The Delhi High Court has granted the refund of the Input Tax Credit (ITC) under Goods and Service Tax (GST) based on the shipping bill and invoices while overturning the rejection of the ITC refund claim.
The petitioner, Star Publishers Distributors, contested “the impugned order,” which dismissed the petitioner’s appeal against the refund rejection order dated May 31, 2021. The petitioner submitted a refund application for an Input Tax Credit totalling ₹13,71,484/- in the required form (GST RFD-01) on April 16, 2021.
While the petitioner’s refund application for the period from April 1, 2019, to March 31, 2020, amounting to ₹4,96,416/- was approved by an order dated May 31, 2021, the petitioner’s refund application for the period from June 1, 2018, to March 31, 2019, totalling ₹8,75,068/- was declined because it was filed after the period specified under Section 54(1) of the CGST Act, 2017 (the CGST Act)
The petitioner’s appeal was disposed of by the impugned order dated June 30, 2023. The Appellate Authority acknowledged the petitioner’s argument that their application was not time-barred, citing Notification No. 13/2022 – Central Tax dated July 5, 2022, which excluded the period from March 1, 2020, to February 28, 2022, in the computation of the period under Section 54(1) of the Central Goods & Services Tax Act.
However, the Appellate Authority eliminated the appeal due to the lack of documentary evidence submitted via the petitioner for the export process. Without such details, the beginning date for calculating the limitation period could not be determined.
A division bench comprising Justice Vibhu Bakhru and Justice Amit Mahajan noted that the Adjudicating Authority had not raised any concerns about the petitioner’s failure to provide documents. The Adjudicating Authority had partially approved the refund application for the tax period from April 1, 2019, to March 31, 2020.
The petitioner had also submitted a tabular statement indicating the invoice dates, shipping bill dates, and remittance receipt dates. Section 54(1) of the CGST Act specifies that a GST refund application can be filed within two years from the relevant date, and the term “relevant date” is defined in Explanation (2) to Section 54 of the CGST Act.
As there was no dispute regarding the evidence presented by the petitioner concerning their exports before the Adjudicating Authority, the court granted the writ petition and directed the respondents to process the petitioner’s refund claim, including applicable interest.
| Case Title | Star Publishers Distributors V/S Assistant Commissioner of CGST |
| Citation | W.P.(C) 12900/2023 |
| Date | 11.10.2023 |
| Counsel For Petitioner | Mr. Rajeev Ahuja, Adv. |
| Counsel For Respondent | Ms. Neha Malik, Adv. |
| Delhi High Court’s Order | Read Order |