In re Shri. Kottoor Mathew Jose Mathew, Jose Mathew and Co (GST AAR Kerala)
In the case of Shri. Kottoor Mathew Jose Mathew, Jose Mathew and Co (GST AAR Kerala), the Authority for Advance Ruling (AAR) in Kerala addressed several queries raised by the applicant, Shri. Kottoor Mathew Jose Mathew, a distributor of consumer products, primarily from Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL). The applicant sought advance rulings on issues related to Input Tax Credit (ITC) in the context of credit notes received from HUL and discrepancies in GST filings.
The applicant’s first query concerned whether they would need to reverse ITC if they treated credit notes issued by HUL as financial/commercial credit notes without acknowledging any tax element. The second query sought to determine if the applicant could claim ITC based on the purchase invoices shown in GSTR-3B when the credit notes were considered as financial/commercial without any agreement for reducing ITC. The third query asked if the GST Department could reject ITC claims due to mismatches between GSTR-3B and GSTR-2A when Section 43(5) of the CGST Act could be invoked. Finally, the fourth query inquired whether incorrect reduction of output tax liability by the supplier would affect the applicant’s ITC claim or output tax liability.
