In a recent Goods and Services Tax (GST) case, the Orissa High Court set aside the orders rejecting tax appeals as time-barred and sent the cases back to the Appellate Authority for review.
This decision was influenced by a new notification allowing taxpayers who missed the appeal deadline or had their appeals rejected due to timing issues to follow a special procedure.Taxpayers must file their appeals by January 31, 2024, and pay specific amounts related to their disputed taxes to proceed.
Sundar Pravat Das, the petitioner/ assessee, approached the court under Article 226 and 227 of the Indian Constitution, challenging the first appellate orders that rejected the petitioner’s appeal due to being time-barred under Section 107 of the OGST/CGST (Orissa Goods And Service Tax/Central Goods And Service Tax) Act. The petitioner could not use the alternative remedy provided under Section 112 of the act as the 2nd appellate Tribunal had not yet been constituted.
While this writ petition was pending, the Ministry of Finance issued a notification on November 2, 2023. This notification allows taxpayers who missed the appeal deadline by March 31, 2023, or whose appeals were rejected for being late under Section 107 of the CGST Act, to use a special procedure for filing appeals.
A division bench of Justice Dr. B. R Sarangi and G. Satapathy set aside the challenging orders and sent the case back to the Appellate Authority (AA) for further consideration according to the new notification. The court contended that the tax amount paid by the petitioner should be taken into consideration on reviewing the case and any refund will depend on the final decision of the appeal.
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