Refund under GST can’t be denied for technical glitches in GSTN portal
The Madras High Court in recent judgement in the case of Tvl. Mehar Tex (Appeallent) v. The Commissioner of CGST & Ors. dated March,18 2021 pronounced that refund of Input Tax can’t be denied due to Technical Glitches in GSTN portal
Facts:
The Appeallant, Tvl. Mehar Tex is an exporter and has made zero-rated supplies during the months of October & November 2017 and February 2018. Accordingly, he filed refund claim of SGST for October 2017, CGST for November 2017 and CGST, SGST, and IGST for February 2018. However, when the refund applications were uploaded on GSTN portal, the entire refund amount got consolidated under the head SGST alone.
While considering the refund applications, the Respondent, the Assistant Commissioner of GST and Central Excise restricted the refund claim to the extent of the Petitioner’s liability for the respective months only under the head of SGST under Rule 92 of the Central Goods and Services Tax Rules, 2017 and issued show cause notice to the assess as to why refund of CGST and IGST should not be rejected. To which Petitioner replied stating that the entire refund claim got auto-populated under a single head of SGST on GSTN portal. However, the Respondent rejected the refund claims made in respect of CGST and IGST on the ground that the Petitioner has not furnished any documentary proof in support of his claims.
Issue:
The issue raised before the High Court was whether the Petitioner’s claim for refund of CGST and IGST can be denied on the ground that the entire refund amount got consolidated under one head i.e. SGST, due to the technical error on GSTN portal.
The Single Judge Bench of Justice G.R.Swaminathan set aside the order rejecting refund claim of CGST and IGST of the assessee wherein, the entire refund liability of Input Tax Credit got auto-populated under a single head i.e. SGST Tax instead of SGST, CGST and IGST.
Conclusion:
The court held that, if the assessee was otherwise eligible to the refund, the refund claim ought not to be denied on the ground of technical glitches and error occurred due to auto-population on GSTN portal. Nothing can be more unfair than this. Hence, it was clearly laid down by Madras High court that Input Tax Credit Refund can’t be denied due to technical glitches in GSTN Software.
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