Claiming of ITC Under Wrong Head Is Only a Technical Mistake Committed by Assessee | HC

Case Details: Rejimon Padickapparambil Alex v. Union of India - [2024] 169 taxmann.com 152 (Kerala)

Judiciary and Counsel Details

• Dr. A.K. Jayasankaran Nambiar & K.V. Jayakumar, JJ.
• R. Jaikrishna, Anish P., C.S. Arun Shankar, Ganesan M., Smt. Narayani Harikrishnan & Vivek Bhat D., Advs. for the Petitioner.
• P.R. Sreejith, Adv., Govt. Pleader, Smt. Resmitha Ramachandran & T.C. Krishna, Sr. Panel Counsel for the Respondent.

Facts of the Case

The assessee was a registered dealer and received various inwards supplies of goods, both inter-state and intra-state. For the inter-state inward supplies, on which IGST was paid by the supplier, the assessee had to avail input tax credit. While filing Form GSTR-3B, instead of showing the IGST component in the eligible credit details, the assessee inadvertently showed the IGST component as nil and added the bifurcated CGST and SGST components of IGST to the existing figures showing eligible CGST and SGST credit.

This resulted in a mismatch between Form GSTR-2A and Form GSTR-3B. The Assessing Authority (AA) contended that the mismatch had resulted in the assessee utilising ‘unavailable credit’ towards payment of CGST and SGST on outward supplies. Further, the authority issued a notice demanding the return of the CGST/SGST amounts allegedly utilised in excess by the assessee.

High Court Held

The Kerala High Court held that Section 73 of the GST Act was attracted only when it appeared to a proper officer that any tax had not been paid or short paid or erroneously refunded, or where input tax had been wrongly availed or utilised for any reason. In the instant case, there had been no wrong availment of credit, and the only mistake committed by the assessee was an inadvertent and technical one. The mistake was also insignificant because there was no outward supply attracting IGST that was effected by him. Therefore, the Court set aside the order of AA and allowed the writ petition by quashing the demand order.