Refund of GST paid (which should not have been paid)

[Tanmay Bhardwaj]

Hi Experts,

Need you opinion on following:

We are a liaison office of foreign establishment. In GST, an establishment in India (liaison office) and an establishment outside India (head office) of establishment, are treated as establishment of distinct persons in terms of Explanation 1 to Section 8 of the IGST Act. Accordingly, service provided by liaison office to head office are excluded from the scope of “export of services” by virtue of sub-clause (v) in definition of ”export of services” provided in Section 2(6) of the IGST Act. Accordingly, we paid GST on reimbursement received from our HO.

Recently, Rajasthan Authority for Advance Ruling in case of Habufa Meubelen B.V. Indian Liaison Office  2018 (7) TMI 883 - AUTHORITY FOR ADVANCE RULING - RAJASTHAN held that no GST is required to be paid on reimbursement received by Liaison office from HO.

In view of the above, can we file refund of the GST already paid and if yes, under which section of CGST Act?

Thank you in advance for your help.

AI Summary

Refund of GST: reimbursements to a head office may be reclaimed if taxpayer proves the tax was not payable under GST law.
Reimbursements from a head office to a liaison office were taxed by the taxpayer, but an AAR decision in another case held such reimbursements not taxable; that AAR is binding only on its applicant and cannot be relied on by other taxpayers. A refund of GST paid which was not payable is available under the CGST Act refund provisions, but the claimant must prove that the tax was not exigible and may seek its own binding determination or approach the jurisdictional authorities under the refund procedure.