Tax mistakenly paid under the column of CGST and SGST for the transactions related to IGST was to be refunded, where Assessee has already made payment under correct IGST head as required by Department

Case Details:

Issue- In the above case, the petitioner has challenged the order dated 19-2-202 issued by Additional Commissioner (Appeals) whereby the prayer for refund of CGST & SGST amounting to Rs. 108 crores approximately wrongly paid in excess of the tax due under section 77 of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 has been declined. The petitioner is a joint venture with State Bank of India engaged in the business of issuing credit cards to its customers (cardholder). Petitioner obtained 28 GST registrations. However, during the initial stage the complete break up of individual transactions was not available to the petitioner, therefore, the petitioner paid Central Goods and Services Tax (CGST) and State Goods and Services Tax (SGST) of about Rs.108 crores approximately considering the transactions to be intra-state sales. Thus, petitioner applied for refund of amount wrong paid where respondent authority required to make payment of IGST in correct IGST head. Petitioner deposited Rs. 108 crores in correct head but the refund was not granted on the ground that adjudicating authority had not actually held whether a transaction was inter-state or intrastate.

Held- It was held that it cannot be lost sight of that there is no dispute about the amount of tax, rather it was on the requirement of the respondents that the petitioner paid an additional amount of Rs.108 crores approximately and such amount has been already paid and once the petitioner paid that extra amount on asking of the respondents under the IGST, the liability of the respondents to refund an amount of Rs.108 crores odd wrongly deposited under CGST & SGST cannot be disputed. no one can lose sight of the fact that the money has now lain with the respondents for the past two and a half years. Consequently, the petition was allowed, and respondents were directed to refund Rs.108 crores approximately which was deposited earlier by the petitioner towards CGST and SGST along with applicable interest within a period of one month.