Allahabad HC: Adjust Tax Amount for GST Return Mismatch with Bank Statement Issue

In the instance of a discrepancy between the GST return and the bank statement, the Allahabad High Court (HC) decided that the amount of Tax deposited be adjusted.

The petitioner, Vriddhi Infratech India Pvt. Ltd., contested the order dated 4.6.2021 made under Sections 61 and 74 of the GST Act, 2017, as well as the judgment dated 26.10.2021 dismissing the petitioner’s appeal.

The petitioner also requested mandamus to order the respondents to adjust the GST amount that was mistakenly deposited by the petitioner in the financial year 2018–19 but was instead deposited in the month of June 2018—i.e., the financial year 2018-19 due to a circular dated 31.12.2018 and provisions of Section 39(9) of the GST Act.

The petitioner was served with a Section 61 notice, saying that in his annual return submitted in GSTR-09 form dated 30.1.2020, he stated his turnover as 129.52 lakhs, which does not match his bank statement.

Section 39 (9) of the CGST Act 2017 states that after November 30th, the day after the end of the financial year to which the details pertain, or the actual date of furnishing the relevant annual return, whichever is earlier, no such rectification of any omission or incorrect particulars shall be permitted.

It was claimed that the relevant authorities ignored all of the form’s information, which in the end indicates that the GSTR-9 form generated a total turnover of Rs. 20,37,13,502.00 lakhs in the fiscal year 2017–18.

A Coram made up of Judge Vivek Chaudhary noted that the GSTR-9 had been misinterpreted by both the assessing authority and the appellate authority. Because of this, both of the contested orders are dismissed.

The security amount placed according to the interim order is released in favour of the petitioner after the Court ordered the respondents to modify the amount of GST submitted by the petitioner.