Siva Viruthambigai Vs Deputy State Tax Officer II (Madras High Court)
In , the petitioner challenged an order dated 15.11.2025 passed by the Deputy State Tax Officer-II confirming GST liability for the assessment year 2021-22. The confirmed demand included excess Input Tax Credit (ITC) claims, interest, penalty, and late fee totaling Rs. 2,47,397. The tax component comprised SGST and CGST liabilities of Rs. 51,264 each and cess of Rs. 3,352, along with corresponding interest, penalties, and late fees.
The Madras High Court noted that the impugned order had been passed because the petitioner failed to submit a reply to the Show Cause Notice in DRC-01 dated 16.09.2025 for the period April 2021 to March 2022.
The Court examined the liability relating to late fee and referred to its earlier decision in Kandan Hardware Mart Vs. The Assistant Commissioner (ST)(FAC) delivered on 02.01.2026. In that judgment, the Court had discussed waiver and limitation of late fee liabilities under GST enactments in cases involving delayed filing of annual returns. The earlier ruling also held that general penalty under Section 125 of the GST enactments could not be imposed where another penalty such as late fee had already been levied.
The Court observed that the present dispute was partly covered by the ratio laid down in the earlier judgment, though the earlier decision concerned annual returns.
