Amount Deposited Under Erroneous Return Filed Under Cancelled Registration Number to be Refunded to Assessee | HC

Case Details: Yogesh Rajendra Mehra v. Principal Commissioner of Central Goods and Service Tax - [2024] 160 taxmann.com 31 (Bombay)

Judiciary and Counsel Details

• • G.S. Kulkarni & Firdosh P. Pooniwalla, JJ.
  • C.S. Lamba for the Petitioner.
  • Jitendra B. Mishra, Ms Sangeeta Yadav & Rupesh Dubey for the Respondent.

Facts of the Case

In the present case, the petitioner inadvertently filed his GST returns under his old GST registration number as well as under new GST registration number. He also deposited tax with both returns and it filed refund application seeking refund of amount of tax deposited on cancelled (old) registration. However, the application of petitioner for refund was rejected and appeal was also rejected on ground of limitation. Therefore, it filed writ petition against the order.

High Court Held

The Honorable High Court noted that admittedly, petitioner’s first registration stood cancelled and a fresh registration was granted. The Court further noted that this fact was required to be considered by authorities that an assessee cannot be expected to file return and deposit any tax under an invalid registration number. Further, a proper return was filed by petitioner under valid registration.

Thus, the Court held that the tax deposited under cancelled registration number could not have been retained by authorities as it was not a deposit as per law. Therefore, it was held that the impugned order was to be set aside and amount deposited under cancelled registration was to be refunded along with applicable interest.