Virtusa Systems (India) Private Limited Vs Union of India (Telangana High Court)
Telangana High Court held that rejection of refund application by refund sanctioning authority not sustained since authorities failed to demonstrate that services rendered by petitioner tantamount to intermediary services. Accordingly, writ petition is allowed.
Facts- Petitioner is an India entity engaged primarily in the business of providing taxable services under the category “Information Technology Software Services” which, according to it, are exported mainly to its associated enterprises located at USA. Such supplies of services qualifies as export of services as the place of supply is the location of the service recipient outside India as per Section 13 of the Integrated Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017. According to the petitioner, such supplies are in the nature of “zero rated supplies” as defined u/s. 16 and includes export of goods or services and as such are eligible for refund of the unutilized ITC. Thus, it filed GST-RFD-01 along with supporting documents claiming refund on account of services for different periods.
The refund sanctioning authority allowed the refund vide orders dated 06.11.2022 and 26.10.2022. The revenue preferred an appeal which has been allowed by the impugned order dated 12.12.2023 by the Additional Commissioner (Appeals-I) under challenge in both the writ petitions. However, the refund sanctioning authority rejected the refund by order dated 09.07.2024 impugned in W.P.No.28201 of 2024 based entirely on the Commissioner’s order for the earlier period. Therefore, the petitioner has assailed all the three orders in the present batch of writ petitions.
