In a major relief to Wipro, the Karnataka High Court has held that the bonafide mistakes in GSTR-3B can be rectified and allowed the Company to revise the return for the last three years permissible under the recent circular issued by the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) as the correction was due to bonafide and inadvertent error in the invoices.
The petitioner-Company relied on the Circular bearing No.183/15/2022-GST dated 27.12.2022 and contended that the petitioner as well as the 5th respondent would be entitled to the benefit of the directions issued in the said Circular with regard to the errors committed in the Invoices.
Justice S.R.Krishna Kumar observed that a perusal of the Invoices at Annexure-C will indicate that while supplies are made by the petitioner to M/s.ABB Global Industries and Services Private Limited, the GSTIN Number mentioned in the Invoices has been incorrectly shown as that of ABB India Limited, which is a completely different and independent juristic and legal entity from the latter.
“Under these circumstances, having regard to the language employed in the Circular, which contemplates rectification of the bonafide and inadvertent mistakes committed by the persons at the time of filing of Forms and submitting Returns, in the peculiar and special facts and circumstances of the instant case, I am of the considered opinion that the error committed by the petitioner in showing the wrong GSTIN number in the Invoices which was carried forward in the relevant Forms as that of ABB India Limited instead of the 5th respondent i.e., M/s.ABB Global Industries and Services Private Limited, is clearly a bonafide error, which has occurred due to bonafide reasons, unavoidable circumstances, sufficient cause and consequently, the aforesaid Circular would be directly and squarely applicable to the facts of the instant case,” the Court said.
Concluding the order, the High Court held that “a perusal of the aforesaid Circular also indicates that the procedure to be followed in such cases has been prescribed at paragraph-4. In addition to the Circular, the petitioner has also filed an Affidavit satisfying the conditions stipulated in paragraph – 4.1.1 of the Circular, enclosing the details of the Invoices issued by the petitioner to the 5th respondent. The 5th respondent has filed statement of objections setting out the facts admitting, accepting and reenforcing the claim of the petitioner with regard to the discrepancies / mismatch in mentioning of the GSTIN Number.”
Granting relief to Wipro, the High Court ordered that “Under these circumstances, I am of the considered opinion that it would be just and proper to dispose of this petition directing the respondents 1 to 3 – revenue to follow the procedure prescribed in the Circular and apply the said Circular to the facts of the instant case of the petitioner, 5th respondent and their transactions for the years 2017-18, 2018-19 and 2019-20. It is also necessary to state that though the Circular refers only to the years 2017-18 and 2018-19, since there are identical errors committed by the petitioner not only in respect of the assessment years 2017-18 and 2018-19 but also in relation to the assessment year 2019-20 also, I am of the view that by adopting a justice oriented approach, the petitioner would be entitled to the benefit of the Circular for the year 2019-20 also.”
Subscribe Taxscan Premium to view the JudgmentSupport our journalism by subscribing to Taxscan premium. Follow us on Telegram for quick updates
