Gujarat High Court Upholds Classification Of 'Mint Orange 2022' As Industrial Input Under VAT Act

The Gujarat High Court has held that 'Mint Orange 2022' is classifiable as an industrial input under the Gujarat Value Added Tax Act, 2003, clarifying that household use does not prevent a product from being treated as an industrial input when its composition and primary use are industrial in nature.A Division Bench of Justice A.S. Supehia and Justice Pranav Trivedi dismissed the Tax Appeal filed by the Commercial Tax Department, holding that the product qualifies as an aromatic chemical and...

Jharkhand High Court Quashes Time-Barred VAT Reassessments In Batch Including Tata Chemicals, Hindalco, L&T

The Jharkhand High Court has recently quashed reassessment proceedings initiated against Tata Chemicals Limited, Hindalco Industries Limited, Larsen and Toubro Ltd., Tata Steel Limited and several other taxpayers, holding that reopening of completed VAT assessments beyond the statutory period is barred by limitation. A Division Bench of Justice Rongon Mukhopadhyay and Justice Deepak Roshan observed that the issue was already settled and that “the law is set at rest.” Referring to its earlier...

Subsidised Sales Don't Bar ITC, Milling By-Products Not Taxable Under AP VAT: Andhra Pradesh High Court

The Andhra Pradesh High Court on 2 February held that input tax credit (ITC) cannot be disallowed merely because essential commodities are sold at subsidised prices fixed by the State Government. It further held that by-products such as broken rice, bran and husk retained by millers during the milling of paddy do not constitute a taxable disposal or transfer attracting levy under the Andhra Pradesh Value Added Tax Act, 2005. A Bench of Justice R. Raghunandan Rao and Justice T.C.D. Sekhar was...

Punjab and Haryana High Court Bars Coercive Recovery Action Against Firm After VAT Records 'Burnt In Fire'

The Punjab and Haryana High Court has restrained the Punjab tax department from taking coercive recovery action against a proprietorship firm over a legacy VAT demand, after the state told the court that the assessment record had been destroyed in a fire. A Division Bench of Justice Lisa Gill and Justice Ramesh Chander Dimri recorded the State's submission that the assessment order against Swastika Insulation was not available with the department, as the record was “stated to have been burnt.” ...

Supreme Court Lets LG Electronics Withdraw Challenge To Rajasthan HC Entry Tax Ruling

The Supreme Court on Wednesday permitted LG Electronics India Pvt. Ltd. to withdraw its Special Leave Petitions challenging a Rajasthan High Court ruling on entry tax, granting it liberty to seek a review before the High Court as the constitutional validity of the provision remains pending. A Bench of Justices Pamidighantam Sri Narasimha and Alok Aradhe recorded the submission that the vires of the provision had not been examined in the proceedings leading to the impugned judgment, since...

Supreme Court Refuses To Interfere With Delhi HC Ruling On CST Exemption For Inter-State Sales In Mitsubishi Case

The Supreme Court of India has refused to interfere with a Delhi High Court ruling that allowed a tax exemption claimed by Mitsubishi Corporation India for inter-state sales, rejecting the tax department's argument that the benefit was unavailable because an earlier sale of the goods was already exempt from tax. A bench of Justices J.B. Pardiwala and R. Mahadevan said the case did not warrant interference. “We see no good reason to interfere in the impugned judgment and order passed by the High...

Joint Commissioner's VAT Revision Cannot Be Revisited By Senior Officer: Calcutta High Court

The Calcutta High Court on 2 February held that once an order is revised by a Joint Commissioner under Section 86 of the West Bengal Value Added Tax Act, 2003, it cannot be subjected to a further suo motu revision under Section 85 by a Senior Joint Commissioner, as both officers act as delegates of the Commissioner and exercise the same revisional authority. A Bench of Justice Kausik Chanda, while dismissing a review petition filed by the West Bengal Tax Department, wrote: "Once an order has...

Contractors Can't Be Made To Pay Past TDS Shortfall By Contracting Authority: Punjab & Haryana High Court

The Punjab and Haryana High Court recently held that Rail Coach Factory (RCF) cannot recover differential tax deducted at source (TDS) from contractors for past periods once the contractors' VAT liability has already been assessed and paid. A Bench of Justice Jagmohan Bansal and Justice Amarinder Singh Grewal was hearing writ petitions filed by G.S. Builders, Inderjit Bajaj and R. Tech Builders. The contractors had challenged recovery notices issued by RCF seeking to deduct additional amounts...

Tax Authorities Must Return Title Deed Given As Security Or Certify Its Loss: Kerala High Court

The Kerala High Court has clarified that where an assessee furnishes an original title deed to the tax Department as security, the authorities are duty-bound either to trace and return the document or to formally certify that it has been irretrievably lost. Justice Ziyad Rahman A.A., by a judgment delivered on 16 January, was deciding a writ petition filed by M/s Bash-P-International, a partnership firm earlier registered under the Kerala Value Added Tax Act, 2003 (KVAT Act). The Court...

Department Cannot Deny Interest On Delayed VAT Refund After Blaming Assessee: Delhi High Court

The Delhi High Court has held that the tax department can't deny statutory interest on delayed Value Added Tax (VAT) refund by shifting the blame onto the taxpayer (assessee). A division bench of Justices Nitin Wasudeo Sambre and Ajay Digpaul was dealing with a writ petition filed by an assessee seeking interest on VAT refund that had remained unpaid for 15 years despite the refund claim having attained finality through appeal proceedings. The Department had opposed the claim,...

Andhra Pradesh High Court Upholds 200% VAT Penalty On Trader For Bogus Bill Trading

The Andhra Pradesh High Court has upheld a penalty equal to 200% of the tax imposed on an iron and steel trader for issuing false tax invoices without actual movement of goods to facilitate wrongful availment of input tax credit. A Division Bench of Justice R. Raghunandan Rao and Justice T.C.D. Sekhar dismissed a writ petition challenging a penalty of Rs 50.52 lakh levied under Section 55(2) of the Andhra Pradesh Value Added Tax Act, 2005, for the period from June 2014 to June 2016. The...

Differential GST On Pre-GST Works Contracts To Be Reimbursed By State Agencies: Karnataka High Court

The Karnataka High Court ruled that the additional GST liability arising out of the shift from the pre-GST VAT (Value Added Tax) regime to the GST regime in ongoing works contracts cannot be imposed on contractors.The bench consists of Justice M Nagaprasanna, who directed the State Departments and government agencies to reimburse the differential GST to contractors.All the contracts were awarded prior to July 2017 under the KVAT regime, where the contract rates factored in VAT and...