The assessee is entitled to interest on the refund under the Direct Tax Vivad Se Vishwas Scheme, as ruled by the Gujarat High Court.
“it is true that the assessee is not entitled to interest under Section 244A of the Income Tax Act, 1961, however, when the assessee has opted for direct tax for Vivad se Visvas Scheme 2020 and filed the application which was approved by the designated authority and refund order is also passed as per the said scheme on 12/05/2022 by the Jurisdictional Assessing Officer, the assessee was entitled to the interest on the amount of refund till the same was paid to the assessee” the bench cited including Justices Bhargav D. Karia and D.N. Ray.
In this case, the Jurisdictional Assessing Officer passed and uploaded the manual order in the Income Tax Business Application (ITBA) system dated 12/05/2022, which was accounted dated CPC 26/07/2022 with a refund of Rs.2,20,41,042 and the refund was issued by the CPC and hence nothing is pending before the Jurisdictional Assessing Officer.
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The assessee/petitioner did not validate the bank account with the CPC, so the refund cannot be processed.
It was furnished by the taxpayer that the taxpayer has been vigilant for the refund that emerged under the DTVSV Act, 2020, which is not in dispute as per the order giving effect on 12/05/2022 passed by the Jurisdictional Assessing Officer.
As per the department, the taxpayer does not validate the bank account with the CPC, therefore the refund cannot be filed to the taxpayer. The taxpayer was not liable to file the interest up to the date when the account was validated under the system.
Without considering whether it was a fault on the part of the assessee to validate the bank account or whether any negligence on the part of the department for not releasing the amount of refund, the bench, asked the department to file the amount of interest at 6% per annum under the assessment provided amounting to Rs.22,04,104/- for twenty months from 01/06/2022 to 31/01/2024 considering the entire month on amount of Rs.2,20,41,042.
| Case Title | M/s Total Infratech Pvt. Ltd. V/S Assistant Commissioner of Income Tax |
| Citation | R/SPECIAL CIVIL APPLICATION NO. 20804 of 2023 |
| Date | 24.02.2025 |
| Counsel For Appellant | Bhaumik Dholariya |
| Counsel For Respondent | Karan G Sanghani |
| Gujarat High Court | Read Order |
