Kerala HC directs GSTN and CBIC to give clarifications regarding NIL refund claim

Kerala HC directs GSTN and CBIC to give clarifications regarding NIL refund claim

The High Court of Kerala (HC) passed an order for the Goods and Service Tax (GST) Department wherein the HC directed the department to provide clarifications to apply for refund after filing of NIL refund claim in FORM GST RFD-01A/RFD-01

M/s Soura Natural Energy Solutions India Pvt. Ltd. (petitioner) challenged Circular No.110/29/2019-GST condition (b) in Para 3 issued by the Government of India, Ministry of Finance, and Department of Revenue (Respondents). The circular was issued on 3 October 2019 regarding GST refund on the basis that it was ultra vires to the Section 54 (3) of Central Goods and Service Tax Act, 2017 (CGST Act). It was declared to be arbitrary, unreasonable hampering the main purpose of issuing the said circular.

The application filed by the petitioner was rejected on the ground that the petitioner had applied for refund as NIL on 30 December 2019. On the same date, they had also applied for a refund while taking the benefit of the circular however it had also been rejected by taking aid of Clause 3 (b) of the said circular. The ground for rejecting the application was that no claim should have been filed by the person under the same category for a subsequent period.

The petitioner filed a writ petition before the HC and requested the court to give directions to the Respondents to facilitate the GST common portal for enabling the petitioner to file a revised refund claim for the tax periods. The petitioner averred that they had inadvertently filed a 'NIL' refund claim or to accept such revised refund claim manually.

The respondents contended that he had already submitted a request to the department for clarification as predicament as of such registered owners including that of the petitioner had not been envisaged.

The matter was listed before the HC in front of the single-judge bench of Justice Amit Rawal. The Judge found substance in the contentions of the petitioner and posted this matter after three weeks for further proceedings.