No Statutory Mechanism To Revise GST Return For ITC: HP High Court Allows Manual Filing Of Monthly Return

In the absence of any statutory mechanism under the GST law to revise or correct GSTR-3B, the monthly GST return used to declare tax liability and claim Input Tax Credit, a taxpayer cannot be left without a remedy for a bona fide mistake, the Himachal Pradesh High Court has held. A division bench of Justices Vivek Singh Thakur and Romesh Verma allowed a registered taxpayer to file the GSTR-3B return manually for the quarter ending March 2021 so that its unclaimed Input Tax Credit (ITC) could be...

Can Service Tax Be Levied On Transfer of Development Rights? Delhi High Court To Decide

The Delhi High Court on Monday took up a Revenue appeal that squarely raises the question of whether the transfer of development rights constitutes a taxable service under the Finance Act, 1994. A Division Bench of Justices Nitin Wasudeo Sambre and Ajay Digpaul issued notice in an appeal filed by the Service Tax Department against an order of the Delhi Customs, Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal (CESTAT), which had quashed a service tax demand of nearly Rs 5 crore raised on a real estate...

Delhi High Court Allows Use Of Transitional CENVAT Credit For Mandatory Pre-Deposit Before CESTAT

The Delhi High Court, in a 'rare' scenario where an appeal was sought to be admitted before the CESTAT on the strength of pre-deposit made using through DRC-03, has clarified that pre-deposit was partial component of the demand just as tax, interest and penalty. In a recent judgment dated December 22, 2025, the Delhi High Court dealt with whether CENVAT credit transitioned into the GST regime as on July 01, 2017 could be utilised for the purpose of making pre-deposit or not. A ...

Tax Paid During Probe Must Be Refunded Once No Liability Found: Chhattisgarh High Court Allows Service Tax Refund

The High Court of Chhattisgarh has allowed a service tax appeal filed by an assessee, setting aside orders passed by the department and the Customs, Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal (CESTAT) which had rejected a refund claim as time-barred under Section 102(3) of the Finance Act, 1994 . A Division Bench of Justice Rajani Dubey and Justice Amitendra Kishore Prasad was hearing an appeal challenging CESTAT's order that denied refund of ₹14.89 lakh deposited by the assessee during...

Levy Of Service Tax On 'Access To Amusement Facilities' Unconstitutional: Kerala High Court

The Kerala High Court held that the levy of service tax on 'access to amusement facilities' is unconstitutional, as the entire activity squarely falls within the State's taxing power under Entry 62 of List II (entertainments and amusements) of the Constitution of India.Justices A. Muhamed Mustaque and Harisankar V. Menon stated that the provisions of the Entertainments Tax Act also seek to impose tax on the entire consideration received by the assessee from their clients/customers. The question...

Service Tax | Pairing & Testing Smart-Cards For Set-Top-Boxes Qualifies As Job Work: Bombay High Court Allows Credit

The Bombay High Court has upheld the Mumbai Tribunal's decision allowing Dish TV to retain CENVAT Credit on imported smart cards, which were used for testing and pairing with Set Top Boxes. A Division Bench comprising, Justice Vibha Kankanwadi and Justice Hiten S. Venegavkar dismissed the appeal filed by the Service Tax Department against order by the Mumbai, Customs, Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal (CESTAT) that after verifying accounting records held in favour of Dish TV....

Service Tax | Windmill Installation, Commissioning Services Construable As 'Input Service', Credit Admissible: Gujarat High Court

The Gujarat High Court has allowed CENVAT credit of service tax paid on input used in setting up of a Windmill, away from factory premises, on the strength of nexus of the inputs with output activity, electricity generation. A Division Bench comprising, Justice Bhargav D. Karia and Justice Pranav Trivedi in twin writ petitions has set aside order of CESTAT Ahmedabad that disallowed CENVAT credit on the ground that credit of inputs and input services utilized away from the factory site...

Service Tax Refund Cannot Be Denied On Limitation When Deposit Was Made During Investigation: Chhattisgarh High Court

The Chhattisgarh High Court has held that service tax deposited during the course of investigation cannot be denied refund merely on the ground of limitation under Section 102(3) of the Finance Act, 1994, especially when the department itself later drops proceedings and acknowledges non-liability. The Division Bench of Justice Rajani Dubey and Justice Amitendra Kishore Prasad allowed a tax appeal filed by a service tax assessee challenging the rejection of a refund claim amounting to...

Service Tax | Once Pre-Deposit Condition Is Fulfilled, Appeal Must Be Heard On Merits: Jharkhand High Court

The Jharkhand High Court held that once an appeal was dismissed for non-compliance with the mandatory pre-deposit of the Service Tax amount, the Appellate Authority does not become functus officio and was competent to decide the appeal on merits if the mandatory condition of pre-deposit of 7.5% of the Service Tax amount was subsequently complied with by the assessee. A Division Bench comprising of Chief Justice and Justice Rajesh Shankar, stated that the appeal at the earlier occasion...

Information Regarding GST Returns Of Company Cannot Be Disclosed Under RTI Act: Bombay High Court

The Bombay High Court on Tuesday (October 14) held that a company's Goods and Services Tax (GST) returns filing cannot be disclosed under the Right To Information (RTI) Act. Sitting at Aurangabad bench, single-judge Justice Arun Pednekar noted that section 158(1) of the GST Act prohibits disclosure of information of GST returns to third parties and that section 8(1)(j) of the RTI Act too exempts certain information from being made public unless the information officer is satisfied that the...

Officer Appointed Under State GST Act Is Authorised To Discharge Duties As Proper Officer For IGST & CGST: Allahabad High Court

The Allahabad High Court has held that an officer appointed under the State Goods & Service Tax Act will be Proper Officer under the Integrated Goods & Service Tax Act as well as the Central Goods & Service Tax Act. Perusing Section 4 of the IGST Act read with rule 20 of the CGST Act, Justice Piyush Agrawal held that “The provision provides that the Officer appointed under the State Goods & Service Tax is authorized to discharge their duties as Proper Officer for the...

Patna High Court Upholds ₹25 Lakh Service Tax Demand Against Travel Agency Which Failed To Disclose Transactions & Claimed Records Were Lost In Fire

The Patna High Court has recently upheld a service tax demand of ₹25.25 lakh against a travel agency, dismissing its defence that crucial business records had been lost in a fire. The Division Bench comprising Justice Rajeev Ranjan Prasad and Justice Ashok Kumar Pandey observed, “this petitioner having surrendered his service tax registration had not disclosed the transactions in ST-3. The Taxing Authority were not aware of this, they were looking for cooperation on the part of the petitioner,...