The Gujarat High Court has directed GST Department to sanction refund towards IGST paid in respect to the goods exported i.e. ‘Zero Rated Supplies’.
The petitioner, Jal Engineering invokes the extraordinary jurisdiction vested in this Court under Article 226 of the Constitution of India and seeks direction against the respondents for immediate sanction of the refund of Integrated Goods and Service Tax paid in regard to the goods exported zero rated supplies made vide Shipping Bills. It is averred that the authority has illegally withheld the refund of the petitioner and the e-mail received from ICEGATE stating that since drawback is claimed at a higher rate of refund of the petitioner, the same cannot be sanctioned under Section 54 of the Central Goods and Service Tax Act, 2017 read with Section 16 of the Integrated Goods and Service Tax Act, 2019.
The petitioner is a partnership firm and is engaged in the business of manufacture, export and supply of premium quality arrays of Gate Valve, Globe Valve, Swing Check Valve, Ball Valve, Pressure Seal Valve, Conduit Gate Valve, etc. It also is registered under the GST Act and having IEC Code.
The refunds were stuck due to mismatch of invoice and shipping bills and Central Board of Excise & Customs (CBEC) vide Circular No.05 of 2018-Customs dated 23.02.2018 provided an alternative mechanism to give exporters an opportunity to rectify such errors committed in the initial stage. It envisaged an officer interface on the Customs EDI System through which the Custom Officer may verify the information furnished in GSTN and Custom EDI system and sanction refund in those cases where detail of invoice provided in GSTR-01/Table 6A are correct.
The division bench of Justice Sonia Gokani and Justice Nisha M.Thakore has ruled that the sanction of the refund towards the IGST paid in respect of the goods exported i.e. “zero rated supplies”, vide the shipping bills ought to have been completed as the two circumstances provided in sub clauses (a) & (b) of Clause (4) of Rule 96 of Rules, 2017 do not exist. The shipping bills, as per Rule 96, exporter once file are deemed to be an application for refund of Integrated tax paid on the exports of goods and withholding of the same is made permissible under Rule 96 (4) when read with Section 54 as specified in the said decision of Amit Cotton Industries (supra).
The court directed respondents to sanction the refund towards the IGST paid in respect to the goods exported i.e. ‘Zero Rated Supplies’ made via the Shipping Bills. Respondent authorities are also directed to pay interest, at the rate prescribed under the statute, to the petitioner on the amount of refund from 01.07.2019 within a period of six weeks from the date of receipt of a copy of this order.
JAL ENGINEERING THROUGH PARTNER KARISHMA SHAIKH vs UNION OF INDIA THROUGH SECRETARY
CITATION: 2022 TAXSCAN (HC) 193
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