Chintamaniswar Constructions (P.) Ltd. V/s Chairperson, Central Board of Indirect Taxes {HIGH COURT OF ORISSA} :
Date of Order : 01-07-2024
In the case of Chintamaniswar Constructions (P.) Ltd. v. Chairperson, Central Board of Indirect Taxes, the issue involved rectifying a wrongly filed GST return to claim Input Tax Credit (ITC) benefits. Chintamaniswar Constructions had mistakenly filed their GSTR-1 return under Business to Consumer (B2C) category instead of Business to Business (B2B) for the periods 2020-21 and 2021-22. This error was discovered after their principal contractor, Odisha Police Housing and Welfare Corporation Ltd., withheld payment due to the incorrect filing.
Chintamaniswar Constructions sought permission from the tax authorities to rectify their GSTR-1 forms to B2B from B2C to avail the rightful ITC benefit. However, their requests for rectification were initially denied by the revenue authorities citing missed deadlines for rectification.
The High Court of Orissa considered the case and ruled in favor of Chintamaniswar Constructions. The court noted that allowing the rectification would not cause any loss to the revenue, as there was no tax evasion involved; it was solely about correcting the filing category to claim ITC which was rightfully due. Denying the rectification would unfairly prejudice the petitioner.
The court referenced a similar decision by the Madras High Court in the case of Sun Dye Chem v. Assistant Commissioner ST, where rectification was permitted under analogous circumstances. In line with this precedent, the Orissa High Court directed the tax authorities to allow Chintamaniswar Constructions to resubmit corrected GSTR-1 forms manually from B2C to B2B for the relevant periods. The authorities were instructed to facilitate the uploading of these corrected forms on the GST portal within four weeks from the date of the court order.
Therefore, Chintamaniswar Constructions was granted relief by the court, enabling them to rectify their GST returns to correct the filing error and claim the Input Tax Credit that was rightfully theirs.
