RECTIFICATION OF ERROR ON THE FACE OF RECORD

[Sadanand Bulbule]

Section 75[7] of the CGST Act reads as under:

(7) The amount of tax, interest and penalty demanded in the order shall not be in excess of the amount specified in the notice and no demand shall be confirmed on the grounds other than the grounds specified in the notice.

Legal position being so. some authorities are issuing notices under Section 161 proposing to rectify error on the face of the adjudication order/records to demand additional tax, interest and penalty on the issue which is admittedly not covered by the SCN under Section 73/74 of the Act.

In my considered opinion, such SCN issued under Section 161 is hit by lack of jurisdiction under Section 75(7) and such SCN is unsustainable in the eyes of law. So in the absence of any error on the face of records, the AO has no other option but to rescind such SCN issued under Section 161.

Experts to comment.

AI Summary

Rectification power limited: cannot be used to raise fresh tax demands beyond the scope of the original show cause notice.
Rectification is limited to correcting an error apparent on the face of the record and must not be used to raise additional tax, interest or penalty on grounds outside the original show cause notice; any attempt to do so exceeds jurisdiction, must observe principles of natural justice, and cannot act as a backdoor review of the original adjudication.