UPLOADING OF SHOW CAUSE NOTICE ON THE GST PORTAL

Service of Notice

In tax laws before recovering the tax from the assessee, the Authority concerned should issue show cause notice alleging the contraventions of the assessee under the relevant Act and give the total amount of tax payable by the assessee along with interest and penalty, if any, should be issued to the assessee. The notice shall indicate the date on which the assessee is give reply to the Authority concerned along with the documents in support of the versions of the assessee. Without giving notice, the Authority cannot pass the assessment order. This will contravene the provisions of the principles o Natural Justice. The Appellate Authorities/Court may set aside such assessment orders.

Service of notice under GST Act

Section 169 of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 (‘Act’ for short) provides the procedure for issuing the show cause notice.

Section 169(1) of the Act provides that any decision, order, summons, notice or other communication under this Act or the rules made thereunder shall be served by any one of the following methods,-

• by giving or tendering it directly or by a messenger including a courier to the addressee or the taxable person or to his manager or authorised representative or an advocate or a tax practitioner holding authority to appear in the proceedings on behalf of the taxable person or to a person regularly employed by him in connection with the business, or to any adult member of family residing with the taxable person; or
• by registered post or speed post or courier with acknowledgement due, to the person for whom it is intended or his authorised representative, if any, at his last known place of business or residence; or
•  by sending a communication to his e-mail address provided at the time of registration or as amended from time to time; or
• by making it available on the common portal; or
• by publication in a newspaper circulating in the locality in which the taxable person or the person to whom it is issued is last known to have resided, carried on business or personally worked for gain; or
• if none of the modes aforesaid is practicable, by affixing it in some conspicuous place at his last known place of business or residence and if such mode is not practicable for any reason, then by affixing a copy thereof on the notice board of the office of the concerned officer or authority who or which passed such decision or order or issued such summons or notice.

Section 169(2) of the Act provides that every decision, order, summons, notice or any communication shall be deemed to have been served on the date on which it is tendered or published or a copy thereof is affixed in the manner provided in sub-section (1). Section 169(3) of the Act provides that when such decision, order, summons, notice or any communication is sent by registered post or speed post, it shall be deemed to have been received by the addressee at the expiry of the period normally taken by such post in transit unless the contrary is proved.

From the above said section it is clear that the issue of show cause notice by uploading the same in the GST portal is the effective service. However, in some cases the Courts held that the uploading of the show cause notice/notices is not an effective communication of notice.  In M/s. G.R. Jewellers Versus The Deputy State Tax Officer (ST), Chennai - 2025 (8) TMI 470 - MADRAS HIGH COURT the High Court held that uploading the notice on the GST portal is not an effective communication of notice and set aside the assessment order and remanded the matter to the original Authority.

In the above said case, the Deputy State Tax Officer, Chennai issued a notice to the petitioner. The respondent officer uploaded the said notice on the common portal. He did not issue physical show cause notice to the petitioner. Since the petitioner did not receive the physical copy, he did not file any reply to the said Officer. The respondent officer, since no reply has been filed, passed the assessment order on 29.04.2024 for the assessment year 2018 – 19.

On getting the knowledge of the order passed by the respondent, on 21.02.2025, the petitioner filed an application for the rectification of the order dated 29.04.2024. However, the respondent rejected the application of the petitioner on 18.03.2025. After this order the respondent attached the bank account of the petitioner as the step taken for the recovery of the tax.

Against the orders of assessment and rejection of rectification application the petitioner filed the present writ petition before Madras High Court. The petitioner submitted the following before the High Court-

• The impugned assessment order suffers from violation of principles of natural justice and is liable to be aside, as the petitioner has not been heard before passing the impugned order.
• The petitioner was not aware of the issuance of the show cause notice issued through the GST Portal and the original of the said show cause notice was not furnished to them.
• The entire tax liability has been recovered from the petitioner and the attached bank account is to be restored.

The respondent contended that since the petitioner did not file any reply to the show cause notice uploaded on the GST portal, the impugned order was passed by him. However, the respondent accepted that the petitioner paid the entire tax.

The High Court heard the submission of the parties to the present writ petition. The High Court was of the view that sending notice by uploading in portal is a sufficient service. But the same time, the High Court was of the view that the Officer who is sending the repeated reminders, in spite of the fact that no response from the petitioner to the show cause notices etc., the Officer should have applied his/her mind and explored the possibility of sending notices by way of other modes prescribed in Section 169 of the Act, which are also the valid mode of service under the Act, otherwise it will not be an effective service, rather, it would only fulfilling the empty formalities. The High Court further observed that merely passing an ex parte order by fulfilling the empty formalities will not serve any useful purpose and the same will only pave way for multiplicity of litigations, not only wasting the time of the Officer concerned, but also the precious time of the Appellate Authority/Tribunal and the High Court as well.

The High Court further considered that when there is no response from the tax payer to the notice sent through a particular mode, the Officer who is issuing notices should strictly explore the possibilities of sending notices through some other mode as prescribed in Section 169(1) of the Act, preferably by way of speed post, which would ultimately achieve the object of the Act.

Since the notice was not served on the petitioner and no reasonable opportunity was given to him to be heard, the High Court set aside the impugned orders and remanded the matter to the respondent for fresh consideration. The High Court directed the petitioner to give reply to the show cause notice with supportive documents within two weeks and the respondent consider the reply and shall issue a clear 14 days notice affording an opportunity of personal hearing to the petitioner and shall decide the matter in accordance with law.