*In the Favour of Taxpayer*
*Issue*
The proper officer cancelled the registration of the taxpayer on account of non payment of taxes. Whereas the taxpayer could not deposit the tax due to losses in his business. Resulting from difficulty in business and cancelled registration, the taxpayer approached the court for relief.
*Held*
H’ble Andhra Pradesh High Court in the case of M/s Lakshminarayana Cottons held that in light of serving the larger ends of justice and balancing equities, moreso, in in view of the fact that, if the industry starts functioning, it would be in a position, both to satisfy the demand of the respondents as also generate business and to pay future taxes and equally give employment to the workers, the Court is inclined to allow the petitioner to pay the amount as would be quantified by the respondents in ten (10) equal instalments.
The Court held that the business was in genuine difficulty and had incurred losses due to non-receipt of incentives from the state government. Hence, the proper officer was instructed to reopen the registration of the taxpayer for it run its business and pay off the tax liability of Rs. 1.25 crores along with interest and penalty.
*Our View*
The judgment is absolutely apt from the prospective of delivery of justice. The provisions of law cannot be read in stringent manner, the circumstances and evidence play a crucial role in correct implementation of law. Had the court decided the matter in favour of department, all the possibilities of recovery of tax and future generation of revenue and employment generation would have vanished.
Furthermore, in such cases, the taxpayer should by himself had filed DRC-20 as request for instalments as per Section 80 of CGST Act 2017, which would have saved him a lot of time and efforts.
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