The Kerala High Court in a significant judgement has found that the assessee failed to check the Goods and Service Tax ( GST ) portal to check the uploaded order of cancellation of GST Registration and thus remained challenged. The court quashed the assessment orders and remanded the matter back on condition of remitting Rs. 10 lakhs towards the GST liabilities.
The petitioner/assessee, Global Distributorshas challenged the orders of assessment and summary of orders for the years July 2017 and August 2017 under the CGST/SGST Acts. The registration of the petitioner had been cancelled on 12.12.2021 with effect from 30.11.2019, and the petitioner was therefore unaware of the orders passed and did not get an opportunity to file returns.
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The orders were uploaded on the portal, which had not been accessed by the petitioner since the registration had been cancelled and the petitioner was no longer continuing with the business.
It was contended that the orders were issued on 13.09.2022, much after the registration of the petitioner was cancelled. The petitioner had conceded an output tax liability of approximately Rs. 10 lakhs in the GSTR-1 filed for July and August of 2017. Since the assessment has now been completed to the best of judgment, the petitioner may be given an opportunity to appear before the officer and establish its case.
The single bench of Justice Gopinath P has observed that the registration of the petitioner had been cancelled in the month of December 2021, and the petitioner had also stopped business. The assessment orders were issued only in the month of September 2022, and therefore, the petitioner was not aware of the orders as it was not checking its portal on a regular basis.
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The court held that the writ petition will stand ordered directing that if the petitioner remits a sum of Rs. 10 lakhs towards the GST liabilities for the months of July and August of 2017, within a period of two weeks. The orders will be set aside, and the matter will stand remanded to the files of the department, who shall pass fresh orders after affording an opportunity of hearing to the petitioner.
Padmanathan K.V. and R.Sreejith appearedfor the petitioner. Thushara James represented the respondent.
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