Assessment Order to Be Set Aside Since Tables of SCN Itself Were Contradictory & Reply Wasn’t Considered | HC

Case Details: Ambika Stores v. Deputy State Tax Officer-I - [2024] 160 taxmann.com 433 (Madras)

Judiciary and Counsel Details

• • Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy, J.
  • B. Raveendran for the Petitioner.
  • Mrs K. Vasanthamala, GA (T) for the Respondent.

Facts of the Case

The petitioner was a registered person under GST. It received a show cause notice (SCN) alleging discrepancy between the GSTR-3B return and GSTR-1 return and also between the GSTR-3B return and GSTR-2A auto populated return. It submitted a reply to the said notice and pointed out contradiction between figures set out in two tables in SCN. However, the department passed an assessment order without considering its reply and it filed writ petition against the same.

High Court Held

The Honorable High Court noted that the SCN was contradictory since in first table, CGST and SGST amounts in GSTR-3B were shown as Rs.3.33 lakhs, whereas in second table dealing with difference between GSTR-3B return and auto populated GSTR-2A return, GSTR-3B amounts were specified as Rs.5.19 lakhs both for CGST and SGST.

In addition, it appeared from perusal of assessment order that reply of assessee was not considered in assessment order. Therefore, the Court held that the impugned assessment order was liable to be set aside. However, it was open for authorities to issue fresh SCN.