TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2025 (7) TMI 1253
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....e Tax and Excise, Division-VIII (Anand), Vadodara-1 (hereinafter referred to as 'the respondent' for short) wherein the respondent was pleased to reject the refund application preferred by the petitioners under Section 54 of the Central Goods & Service Tax Act, 2017 (hereinafter referred to as 'the CGST' for short. 5. The facts leading to the filing of the present petition are as under: 5.1 The petitioners are in business of manufacturing and trading of edible oil, cattle feed, palmolein oil, mustard oil, etc. The products of the petitioners are classified under Chapter-15 of the Customs Tariff Act, 1975 (hereinafter referred to as 'the Tariff Act' for short). As per the Tariff Act, the products of the petitioners attract 5% rate of GST. It is the case of the petitioners that the raw materials for manufacturing aforesaid products are received attracting higher rate of tax under the provisions of the Act. Therefore, the petitioners have always availed accumulation of Input Tax Credit (for short 'ITC') due to inverted tariff structure. It is the case of the petitioners that as per Section-54(3) of the CGST Act, the petitioners can avail refund of the aforesaid accumulated credit. ....
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....2 has amended Notification No. 5/2017 restricting the refund of accumulated credit on products manufactured by the present Petitioners. As per the Notification itself, the notification was made effective from 18.07.2022. In such facts, it was submitted that the petitioners were eligible for refund of accumulated ITC for period up to 17.07.2022 and rejection of refund claims for the period prior to 18.07.2022 is bad in law and requires to be quashed and set aside. 9. It was further submitted that the respondent Authorities had relied upon Circular No. 181/13/2022 dated 10.11.2022 to hold that application filed after 18.07.2022 could not be eligible for refund. It was submitted that in the clarification itself, the department had stated that the Notification had come into force with effect from 18.07.2022. The restriction imposed vide Notification No. 9/2022 on refund of unutilized ITC on account of inverted tax structure would apply prospectively only. This would mean that for the period prior to 18.07.2022, any person manufacturing specified goods is eligible for refund of unutilized ITC. Hence, the clarification stating that all refund applications filed on or after 18.07.2022, w....
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....ed, namely :- (1) (2) (3) "1A. 1507 Soya-bean oil and its fractions, whether or not refined, but not chemically modified 1B. 1508 Ground-nut oil and its fractions, whether or not refined, but not chemically modified. 1C. 1509 Olive oil and its fractions, whether or not refined, but not chemically modified. 1D. 1510 Other oils and their fractions, obtained solely from olives, whether or not refined, but not chemically modified, including blends of these oils or fractions with oils or fractions of heading 1509 1E. 1511 Palm oil and its fractions, whether or not refined, but not chemically modified. 1F. 1512 Sunflower-seed, safflower or cotton-seed oil and fractions thereof, whether or not refined, but not chemically modified. 1G. 1513 Coconut (copra), palm kernel or babassu oil and fractions thereof, whether or not refined, but not chemically modified. 1H. 1514 Rape, colza or mustard oil and fractions thereof, whether or not refined, but not chemically modified. 1I. 1515 Other fixed vegetable or microbial fats and oils (including jojoba oil) and their fractions, whether or not refined, but not chemically modified. Vegeta....
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....ailed or utilized, in respect of a tax period for the financial year 2017-18, up to the 30th day of September, 2023; (ii) excludes the period from the 1st day of March, 2020 to the 28th day of February, 2022 for computation of period of limitation under sub-section (10) of section 73 of the said Act for issuance of order under sub-section (9) of section 73 of the said Act, for recovery of erroneous refund; (iii) excludes the period from the 1st day of March, 2020 to the 28th day of February, 2022 for computation of period of limitation for filing refund application under section 54 or section 55 of the said Act. 2. This notification shall be deemed to have come into force with effect from the 1 day of March, 2020." 11.3 Circular dated 10.11.2022 issued by the GST Policy Wing reads as under:- To The Principal Chief Commissioners/ Chief Commissioners/ Principal Commissioners/Commissioners of Central Tax (All) The Principal Directors General/ Directors General (All) Madam/Sir, Subject: Clarification on refund related issues-reg. Attention is invited to sub-section (3) of section 54 of CGST Act, 2017, which provides for the refund of unutilized input tax cred....
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....2 will be dealt as per the formula as it existed before the amendment made vide Notification No. 14/2022-Central Tax dated 05.07.2022. 2. Whether the restriction placed on refund of unutilised input tax credit on account of inverted duty structure in case of certain goods falling under chapter 15 and 27 vide Notification No. 09/2022- Central Tax (Rate) dated 13.07.2022, which has been made effective from 18.07.2022, would apply to the refund applications pending as on 18.07.2022 also or whether the same will apply only to the refund applications filed on or after 18.07.2022 or whether the same will be applicable only to refunds pertaining to prospective tax periods? Vide Notification No. 09/2022-Central Tax (Rate) dated 13.07.2022, under the powers conferred by clause (ii) of the first proviso to subsection (3) of section 54 of the CGST Act, 2017, certain goods falling under chapter 15 and 27 have been specified in respect of which no refund of unutilised input tax credit shall be allowed, where the credit has accumulated on account of rate of tax on inputs being higher than the rate of tax on the output supplies of such specified goods (other than nil rated or fully exempt s....
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....in notification dated 13.7.2022 was introduced for the first time on such date and by expressly stating that it would apply prospectively and that too from 18.7.2022. If that be so, then refund pertaining to period prior to 13.7.2022 cannot be affected by such notification. Section 54(1) of the GST Act clearly gives a time limit of 2 years for filing of the refund application and such time limit was extended by notification no. 13/2022 because of the Covid-19 pandemic. The application filed by the Petitioner was within the statutory period of limitation and the same was pertaining to period prior to 13.7.2022. Mere fact that the refund application was filed after 13.7.2022 cannot result in denial of refund to the Petitioner even though the refund application was filed within the statutory period of limitation. The circular creates an artificial class amongst assessees based on the date of filing of refund application even though the refund application is filed within the statutory period of limitation and the refund is pertaining to the same period. Para 2 of the impugned circular is therefore grossly discriminatory and violative of Article 14 of the Constitution of India as well a....