If Tax has not reached Govt, then the Liability may have to be borne by One Party, either the Seller or the Buyer: Madras HC [Read Judgment]

tax - Government - liability - seller - buyer - Madras High Court - Taxscan

The Madras High Court held that if the tax had not reached the kitty of the Government, then the liability may have to be eventually borne by one party, either the seller or the buyer.

The petitioners D Y Bethel & Co. are the dealers, registered with Nagercoil Assessment Circle. The petitioners are traders in Raw Rubber Sheets. According to them, they had purchased goods from one Charles and his wife Shanthi.

The specific case of the petitioners is that a substantial portion of the sale consideration was paid only through banking channels. The payments made by the petitioners to the said Charles and his wife, included the tax component also. Charles and his wife are also said to be dealers registered with the very same assessment circle.

Based on the returns filed by the sellers, the petitioners herein availed input tax credit. Later, during inspection by the respondent herein, it came to light that Charles and his wife did not pay any tax to the Government. That necessitated initiation of the impugned proceedings. There is no doubt that the respondent had issued show-cause notices to the petitioners herein.

The petitioners submitted their replies specifically taking the stand that all the amounts payable by them had been paid to the said Charles and his wife Shanthi and that therefore, those two sellers will have to be necessarily confronted during enquiry. Unfortunately, without involving the said Charles and his wife Shanthi, the impugned orders came to be passed levying the entire liability on the petitioners herein.

The single judge bench of Justice G.R. Swamynathan noted that the assessee must have received the goods and the tax charged in respect of its supply, must have been actually paid to the Government either in cash or through utilization of input tax credit, admissible in respect of the said supply.

Therefore, the court quashed the impugned orders and the matters were remitted back to the file of the respondent. The stage upto the reception of reply from the petitioners herein will hold good. Enquiry alone will have to be held afresh. In the said enquiry, Charles and his wife Shanthi will have to be examined as witnesses. Parallely, the respondent will also initiate recovery action against Charles and his wife Shanthi.

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