High Court Quashes GST Best Judgment Assessments for Returns Filed Within 30 Days of DRC‑07
The petitioner in a recent case, a registered taxpayer under the CGST/KGST Act, had failed to submit monthly GST returns for March 2019 and May 2019 within the prescribed time. As a result, best judgment assessment orders in Form ASMT‑13 were issued on 19/08/2019 and 16/11/2019 under Section 62(1). However, the related summaries in Form DRC‑07 were uploaded only on 19/11/2019 and 24/12/2019.
The petitioner had filed the pending returns on 06/11/2019 and 19/12/2019, along with payment of tax, believing that the 30-day compliance period started only after DRC-07 was uploaded. The petitioner contended that since these were filed before the expiry of the statutory period reckoned from the DRC‑07 dates, the assessments stood automatically withdrawn under Section 62(2). The State, on the other hand, argued that the period must be counted from the ASMT‑13 orders.
Main Issue: Whether the 30‑day period for deemed withdrawal of best judgment assessments under Section 62(2) commences from the issue of ASMT‑13 or the upload of DRC‑07.
Hon’ble HC Held: The High Court while allowing the petitioner’s plea, held that an assessment order under Section 62(1) is completed only when both ASMT‑13 and DRC‑07 are issued in terms of Rule 100(1). So, the 30‑day period in Section 62(2) is to be reckoned from the date of uploading DRC‑07.
The Court noted that Rule 100(1) clearly and specifically mandates issuance of ASMT‑13 after uploading of DRC‑07, and Rule 142(5)‑(6) states that DRC‑07 serves as the recovery notice. The Court gave a different view than the earlier High Court decision in Hash Constructions, in which case Rule 100 had not been considered. The HC applied these principles to the current case and found that the petitioner had filed the March 2019 return on 06/11/2019, before the DRC‑07 upload on 19/11/2019, and the May 2019 return on 19/12/2019, before the DRC‑07 upload on 24/12/2019. Both filings were therefore within the statutory 30‑day window.
As a result, the impugned orders in DRC‑07 were quashed, and the assessments were deemed withdrawn under Section 62(2).
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