The Kerala High Court has recently slammed the GST department’s attitude of insisting taxpayers pay GST either through cash or Demand Draft and observed that this is against the very spirit of the new tax regime. The current GST regime supports digital payments and the Government has even announced incentives for paying tax using digital modes instead of the conventional mode of payment of tax.
The petitioner approached the High Court aggrieved by the insistence of the department that the petitioner ought to have paid the tax and penalty either through cash or through Demand Draft as though they paid the amount through the portal. The payment was supported by the payment receipt.
Before the High Court, the Government Pleader submitted that the GST Network is only an infrastructure provider. It has no statutory role to play in the apportionment of the taxes between the State and the Centre.
Allowing relief to the petitioners, Justice Dama Seshadri Naidu observed that “Given the submissions advanced by the Standing Counsel for the GST Network, evidently it is only a service provider, having no role to pay in the apportionment. Further, the Government both at the Centre and in the State, have ushered in the GST Tax regime to ensure that everything is made online with minimum manual interventions. Yet strangely, the authorities still insist that the payment should be by physical means: either in cash or through Demand Draft. That insistence seems to be archaic and out of tune with the very spirit of the GST regime. In apportionment, there may be delays and difficulties, but the taxpayer cannot be made to suffer, on that count.”
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