Plan A, Plan B, Plan C and so on and so forth.

I am a Chartered Accountant in practice based at Chennai and I was approached by one prestigious client based at 320 KM away from Chennai to handle some follow up work with the Commercial Taxes Department, Government of Tamil Nadu at Trichy. I happily accepted the engagement and started to work from Day one in February 2026. The task was not that simple as it involved refund arising out of Tamil Nadu Value Added Tax issues relating to the period prior to July 2017. The stake involved was huge and the number of orders to be handled were also on the higher side. There were several challenges such as 1) model code of conduct was in force during and March April 2026. 2) In May 2026, two highly responsible officers were transferred out from Trichy. 3) The mindset of tax officials to release the refund to the taxpayer etc.

When I shared this engagement matter with some of my close friends, they suggested me not to go ahead as the challenges are herculean and the fee which I quoted was not even 10 % of the amount to handle such a difficult task. Be that as it may, as I have come across several such challenges during the years 2003 till 2022 in my official career, I took it as a challenge and accordingly, I was determined to work consistently, constantly with untiring efforts. I had to travel to Trichy from Chennai 14 times during February 2026 till October 2026 and even getting a confirmed second AC ticket was a challenge. The first six trips were dedicated to establish that I am not going to leave the job at any stage at any cost. The next six trips were to convince the tax officers that they do not have much other options as the cases were much in favor in myside. I had to work during 1 AM till 4 AM for almost all the days during last three months to do the required legal research to find out in handling this matter, where I am strong and where I am not. The continuous interactions almost twice every month has ended up in such a manner that the concerned officer had to call me over phone as against the normal practice of me calling the tax officer. However as things were moving in a snail pace which warranted a change in my approach, I acted accordingly.

I changed the gear from passive to active and that gave me lot of confidence that my approach is going to yield the desired results. During each of my visit, I use to brief the entire history, how our funds were blocked in legal issues, how much amount we have already lost by way of notional interest as technically interest starts only much later etc. The officials were made to understand that what I am seeking from them is not a Rebate/Grant/subsidy/Waiver of tax/ waiver of Interest/ waiver of penalty. I informed the tax officials that they are at liberty to adjust whatever amount due from me to the Government with accurate details but I am not going to leave even one rupee from my entitlement. It was also explained with five different Madras High Court judgements on refund of TNVAT on orders arising out of orders passed by the Tamil Nadu Sales Tax Appellate Tribunal. Those Tribunal orders were passed in July 2025 itself and the officers were duty bound to pass corresponding revised orders, even without our seeking such revision within six months as even Supreme Court considers six months as the maximum reasonable one. But that is an ideal situation which is far from reality. At one stage, it appeared to me that they are playing a game by assuring me of false promises. When I became little bit harsh on my approach, one refund got released to bank account in the late evening on 01/10/2026. However, there were no progress during 02/10/2026 till 30/10/2026 which was totally contrary to what they committed to me earlier. Upon realizing that this speed would not work anymore as I may be held up in this assignment for the next two years, I really wanted to come out as I also have much better jobs on hand. I changed the plan A to plan B and handled the matter in such a manner that there is no other way available on earth to solve this issue other than the one which I had preferred on 31/10/2026. To my pleasant surprise, I was called over in my mobile at 11.00 AM on 02/11/2026 by a very senior officer from their headquarters at Nandanam, Chennai as to whether I could come to their office. I went there at 1.00 PM and spent four hours in nicely explain the entire background of all the connected cases with supporting briefs. I also shared unofficially by only showing to them from my laptop all the developments that were there since February 2026. This is to avoid any action on concerned officer by headquarters and accordingly I made it more than abundantly clear that my intention is not a complaint but requirement is only resolution of issue. This has resulted in assurance to me that the second refund would also be credited to the respective Bank Account by 07/11/2026 so as to make this as a Deepali gift to me.

During the years 2003 till the year 2011, there was a concept of Committee On Disputes headed by the Secretary (Coordination), Government of India who is number 2 in rank next to Cabinet Secretary. My company had a success rate of 99 % in COD which was much higher than IOCL, HPCL ONGC etc. whose volume of operations were much higher than that of my company. That was possible only due the strategy of plan A plan B and plan C. Interestingly, we always keep the strongest argument as the last weapon, which we have used only to the tune of 10%. Things have to work only in that manner as otherwise, the success rate of 99% would not have been possible. When argument a fails, we put B and when both a and b fail, we put C. In almost 80% of the cases, a or and b was sufficient. Even that one percentage failure was not because we were weak but disputed amount was less than 2 lakhs. Even in those cases, I insist on marking the rejection due to value of dispute and not on merit, paving the way forward for me to approach them on identical issues when the value is in excess of two lakhs. In a like manner, option D has completely resolved the issues with an assurance from top official that they are in a position to close the cases by 31/12/2026.

Conclusion: Efforts never fail.