: Delhi High Court orders IGST refund to exporters who claimed duty drawback #FinanceIndia #StockMarketNEWS Delhi High Court orders IGST refund to exporters who claimed duty drawback New Delhi, Apr

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Delhi High Court orders IGST refund to exporters who claimed duty drawback #FinanceIndia #StockMarketNEWS
Delhi High Court orders IGST refund to exporters who claimed duty drawback New Delhi, Apr 9 (KNN) In a major relief to exporters across the country, the Delhi High Court has directed the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) to grant the refund of the Integrated Goods and Services Tax (IGST) paid on export of goods by exporters.

The said refund was denied to the exporters on the ground that Duty Drawback was claimed by the exporters under columns A of the Drawback Schedule. However, it was contested by the exporters before the High Court that the said denial is ultra vires the provisions of the CGST Act, IGST Act and the Constitution, and thus the said IGST should be refunded to the exporters at the earliest.

A detailed order was passed by the Court wherein the Court agreed with the submission of the petitioners (Exporters), subject to respondent authority verifying as to whether duty drawback had been availed of by the petitioners, with regard to Central Excise and Service Tax component.

After hearing our submissions in detail and verifying the export data of each petitioner, the Court directed the CBIC to refund the said IGST paid on exports, with interest, said Advocate Sakshi Singhal to KNN India on Friday.

While explaining the entire matter, Singhal said that the petitioners had exported goods on various dates spanning between the transitional period i. e. from July 1st, 2017 to September 30th, 2017, falling under various tariff items mentioned in the Drawback Schedule, in respect of which the Drawback Rates prescribed in Column A and B were identical.

The said goods were exported on due payment of IGST, the refund of which is the legitimate right of the exporters, accruing to them by virtue of Section 16(3) of the IGST Act, 2017. However, the said refund was denied vide Circular No. 37/2018-Customs dated September 9th, 2018 on the ground that Duty Drawback was claimed by the exporters under column A of the Drawback Schedule instead of Column B, even though the Duty Drawback Rates in Column A and B were identical in respect of the said goods, she added.

In this regard, the petitioner contended that inter alia, that Rule 96(4) prescribed the only situations where IGST refund could be withheld, neither of which remotely contemplate claiming of drawback as a ground for denial of refund and therefore such a restriction is ex facie ultra vires Section 16 of the IGST Act, 2017 read with Section 54 of CGST Act, 2017 and Rule 96 of CGST Rules, 2017.

We further contended that since in the present case, Duty Drawback rates in Column A and B were identical, the Petitioners had claimed and received only the custom component, and element of Central Excise and Service Tax was not included in the Drawback Rate, thus granting of IGST refund would in no case result in double neutralization of input taxes, she said.