Refund interest under sales tax law requires delay beyond six months from the refund claim date.

Interest on a sales tax refund under the Andhra Pradesh General Sales Tax Act, 1957 accrues only if the refund is not granted within six months from the date the refund claim arises. The petitioner became entitled to refund only on the rectification order dated 06.09.2018, and the amount was refunded in October 2018, within the statutory period. As no delay beyond six months was shown, the statutory condition for interest was not satisfied and the claim for interest failed.

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Issues: Whether the petitioner was entitled to interest on the refunded tax amount when the refund pursuant to the rectification order was made within about one month of the order.

Analysis: The right to refund and to interest for delayed refund was held to arise from Sections 33, 33-A and 33-E of the Andhra Pradesh General Sales Tax Act, 1957. Under Section 33-A, a refund claim is to be made after the tax is directed to be refunded, and under Section 33-E interest becomes payable only if the refund is not granted within six months from the date of such claim. On the facts, the petitioner became entitled to refund only after the rectification order dated 06.09.2018, and the refund was made in October 2018. As the payment was made within the statutory six-month period, no delay attracting interest was established.

Conclusion: The petitioner was not entitled to interest on the refunded amount; the claim for interest failed.

Ratio Decidendi: Interest on refund under the Act accrues only when the refund is not made within six months from the date the refund claim arises, and no interest is payable where the refund is made within that statutory period.

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