Can penalty be imposed under Section 129 where valid documents accompanied goods and consignee opted for post facto amendment of GST registration?

facto amendment of GST registration

Case Title

Algae Labs Pvt. Ltd vs State Tax Officer

Court

Madras High Court

Honorable Judges

Justice C.Saravanan

Citation

2022 (4) GSTPanacea 316 HC Madras

Writ Petition (MD) No.4958 of 2022 and W.M.P.(MD)No.4073 of 2022

Judgement Date

04-April-2022

Council for Petitioner

Mr.G.Natarajan

Council for Respondent

Mr.K.S.Selvaganesan

In favour of

Petitioner

Section

Section 129 of the CGST Act, 2017

The Madras High Court, Madurai bench of Justice C. Saravanan, has held that there is no attempt to evade tax and allowed the writ petition by quashing the impugned order.

FACTS OF THE CASE

The petitioner is new start-up company is engaged in research and development of Alage and its utilization. The petitioner on 10.2021 placed an order with M/s.ABV Engineering, Ahmedabad, for supply of specialized spray dryer and parts thereof. The supplier sent the consignment of the goods accompanied with the invoice and E-Way Bill mentioning the name and address of the Consignee as ‘Algae Labs Private Limited, 5/150, South Karumpattor, South Thamaraikulam, Kanyakumari, Tamilnadu – 629708’. The Vehicle with goods were seized by the respondent on the ground that the address of the Consignee mentioned is not matching with the address mentioned in the GST registration of the Petitioner.

facto amendment of GST registration

COURT HELD

The Hon’ble High Court after considering the submissions from the both sides that it has not been disputed from both, the petitioner and the respondent, that the said address has now been added to the GST registration of the petitioner. Thus, there is a post facto inclusion of the address mentioned in the invoice and E-way bill. The Hon’ble High Court with the above findings and referring to the decision in M/S. Smart Roofing Private Limited Vs. The State Tax Officer (Int), Adjudication-II, Madeira wherein relief was granted to the assessee in case of post facto amendment (inclusion) of address in the GST registration, which was mentioned in the invoice as well as in the E-Way Bill, does not amount to detention under Section 129 of the Act. Hence, there is no attempt to evade tax and allowed the writ petition by quashing the impugned order.

facto amendment of GST registration

ANALYSIS OF THE JUDGEMENT

From the above case we can conclude that as there was no evasion of tax by post facto amendment of GST Registration no penalty can be imposed under section 129 of the CGST Act, 2017.

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