Refund Claim u/s 54 of CGST Act can be File by a Person who Borne Incidence of Tax: Calcutta HC allows Refund [Read Order]

The Calcutta High Court held that a refund claim under section 54 of the Central Goods and Service Tax Act, 2017can be filed by any person who has borne the incidence of tax.

M/s. Radiant Enterprises Private Limited and Anr., the writ petitioners challenged the order dated 20th December 2022 passed by the Single Bench in W.P.A. No.1366 of 2022 by which the writ petition filed challenging an order passed by the appellate authority under the provisions of the CGST Act, dated 31st March 2021 was dismissed.

It was observed that there was no independent finding recorded by the writ Court as to how the Court was convinced that the reasons recorded by the appellate authority were just and proper.

The issue arose out of an application for a refund filed under section 54 of the CGST Act, 2017. The original authority by order dated 13th November 2019 rejected the claim only for the reason that the tax has been paid/deposited into the Government exchequer by M/s. Eveready and not the appellants and therefore, they are not entitled to maintain an application for grant of relief.

The appellants filed a statutory appeal before the appellate authority and contended that as service recipients, they are entitled to maintain an application for a refund. Further contended that the person, who has borne the incidence of tax can file a refund claimed by the provisions of section 54 of the CGST Act and in the case on hand, the appellants are the persons, who had ultimately borne the incidence of tax and therefore, eligible to claim the refund under section 54 of the CGST Act.

The appellate authority has stated that the appellants are entitled to maintain the claim for a refund. However, the second issue, which was suo motu framed by the appellate authority has been decided against the appellants.

A two-judge bench comprising Chief Justice T S Sivagnanam and Justice Hiranmay Bhattacharyya set aside the writ petition the order passed by the appellate authority on the second issue and allowed the appeal. Further held that “Refund application shall be processed within a period of four weeks from the date of receipt of the server copy of this judgment and order.”

To Read the full text of the Order CLICK HERE

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