HC Sets Aside Proceedings Against Assessee With 2 GSTINs Claiming ITC Using Second, Citing Benefit of CBIC Circular

Case Details: Santosh Kumar v. Additional Commissioner, Grade-2 - [2023] 156 taxmann.com 475 (Allahabad)

Judiciary and Counsel Details

• • Piyush Agrawal, J.
  • Bipin Kumar Pandey & Aaditya Pandey for the Appellant.
  • C.S.C. for the Respondent.

Facts of the Case

Prior to the commencement of GST regime, the petitioner was registered under the VAT as well as under the Service Tax regime. After enforcement of GST regime, the petitioner were required to be migrated only one GSTIN, but due to the fault of the GST authorities, two GSTINs were provided; one under the VAT Act and another under the Service Tax Act. On getting the first registration under VAT, the petitioner started doing his business and intimated to his supplier and purchaser the said GSTIN.

Although, the aforesaid first GSTIN was effective from 1-7-2017, but the status of the same became ‘not migrated’ on website. Therefore, the amount of valid ITC earned by the petitioner on the aforesaid GSTIN was claimed/availed by him on his second GSTIN at the time of filing returns. Due to this, the proceedings were initiated against the petitioner. The petitioner then challenged the order issued by the Department for the Assessment Year 2018-19 under Section 73 of the UP Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017.

High Court Held

During the course of the litigation, circular dated 2-1-2023 was issued (Circular No. 183/15/2022-GST, Dated 27-12-2022), which was beneficial to the petitioner. The circular particularly outlined the procedure for handling discrepancies in ITC claimed when the supplier declared the wrong GSTIN of the recipient in Form GSTR-1. After reviewing the circular and legal precedents, the court set aside the impugned order. The court remanded the matter back for a fresh decision after considering the circular and other relevant judgments.