Case: Railroad Logistics (India) Pvt. Ltd. Vs Union of India & Ors. (Bombay High Court) Writ Petition (L) No. 2429 of 2021
The hon’ble court allowed the amendment of GSTR-1 for the FY 2018-19 to correct the Bonafede mistakes. The amendment to be allowed either manually or electronically.
Fact
- The taxpayer contends that they made an inadvertent error in submitting the GST number of Mahindra & Mahindra (Rajasthan) in its form GSTR-1 instead of correct GST number of Mahindra & Mahindra (Orissa)
- On 10 November 2020 Mahindra & Mahindra (Orissa) received intimation in form DRC-01A on the ground of ‘MISMATCH IN GSTR-2A AND GSTR-3B for FY 2018-19’. On 18 December 2020 the taxpayer filed a letter to the GST Authorities apprising them of the situation with a request to allow them to amend their form GSTR-1 for FY 2018-19.
- Thereafter, on 28 December 2020, Mahindra & Mahindra (Orissa) also received a show cause notice along with form DRC-01. In the wake of such notices being issued to the taxpayer’s customers, the taxpayer on 16 January 2021 filed a reminder letter to the GST Authorities to look into the matter, however, no action was taken.
- The taxpayer stated that in the absence of enabling matching provision as prescribed in Section 42 and 43 of the CGST Act they need to be allowed to amend their form GSTR-1 for FY 2018-19. They referred to the provisions of Section 37(3) and 38(5) to contend that the said provisions of the CGST Act cannot be an impediment for the taxpayer to correct an inadvertent error and which would not cause any loss of revenue to the exchequer.
- Reliance has been placed on the judgements in the case of Star Engineers India Pvt. Ltd. Vs. Union of India, M/s. Sun Dye Chem Vs. The Assistant Commissioner (ST) and Ors. Of the Madras High Court, Shiv Jyoti Construction Vs. The Chairperson, Central Board of Excise & Customs and Ors. of the Orissa High Court, and Mahalaxmi Infra Contract Ltd. Vs. Goods and Services Tax Council and Ors. of the Jharkhand High Court.
Held
- Held that once a bona fide mistake of such nature has occurred, it needs to be rectified and more particularity, considering the observations as made by this Court in Star Engineer India Pvt. Ltd. (supra) as there is no loss of revenue, in the event such rectification is permitted to the taxpayer.
- By directing the authorities to permit the taxpayer to amend and rectify form GSTR-1 for the period in question, either through online or manual means, within a period of four weeks from the date a copy of this order is placed before authorities.