Applicability of Sec 73 or Sec 74

[Krishna Murthy]

Sir,

In one situation, the proper officer has issued show cause notice to a case where GSTR 3B has been filed belatedly paying applicable taxes well before issue of show cause notice. However, interest on the same has not been paid. Does this situation give rise to application of Sec 73 or Sec 74. In my view there cannot be a application of Sec 73 or Sec 74 since, as per 73(1) or 74(1) there should be tax due (non payment, short payment or excess refund or excess ITC) to the department to attract the said sections.

So it is very clear that if there is no tax due on the date of show cause notice there cannot be a situation to issue the same under Sec 73 or Sec 74. Is this view correct? Please comment.

Of course, in the above situation, there can be recovery of interest u/s 79 read with Sec 75(12). But application of Sec 73 or 74 does not arise.

AI Summary

Non-payment of interest does not automatically trigger assessment under assessment provisions; interest is recoverable through statutory recovery and adjudication.
Whether determination provisions apply when tax is paid but interest is unpaid is disputed: one view limits assessment sections to unpaid tax and treats interest as a separate statutory liability recoverable under interest and recovery provisions, while alternative views read the charging language to include interest within the amount subject to adjudication and penalty, and practitioners note recovery and adjudication procedures can be used to collect interest without invoking full determination proceedings.