Case Law Details
Flipkart India Private Limited Vs Value Added Tax Officer (Delhi High Court)
Delhi High Court held that as per Rule 34 of the Delhi Value Added Tax Rules, 2005, a claim for refund of tax is liable to be made in Form DVAT-21 only if such a refund is not claimed in the return itself.
Facts- On 09 May 2014, the petitioner submitted a return for the quarter ending 31 March 2014. The self assessment return claimed a refund of Rs.11,40,96,384/- on account of excess Input Tax Credit. On 15 May 2014 and 07 June 2014, the respondents proceeded to issue notices for default assessment of tax referable to Section 32 of the DVAT Act for the period commencing from April 2012 to March 2013. The default assessment notices raised a demand of Rs.3,10,97,964/- inclusive of interest and penalty. The petitioner is stated to have filed objections in respect of the aforesaid notices before the OHA in terms of Section 74 of the DVAT Act.
On 15 June 2015, the respondents proceeded to issue default assessment notices for the period between April 2013 to December 2013. In terms of those notices, a tax demand in the sum of Rs. 62,61,80,251/- inclusive of interest and penalty came to be raised against the petitioner. These default assessment demands were also assailed by the petitioner by filing objections before the OHA on 15 July 2014. On 16 November 2015, the petitioner made a pre-deposit of Rs.1,00,00,000/- in terms of the statutory mandate of Section 73(1) of the DVAT Act. The aforesaid pre-deposit was made in respect of the objections which had been preferred before the OHA pertaining to the default assessment notices for the F.Y. 2012-2013 and April 2013 to December 2013. On 08 November 2016, the OHA proceeded to dispose of the aforesaid objections and remanded the matter to the file of the first respondent.
Conclusion- This clearly emerges from Rule 34(1) which uses the expression “except claimed in the return”. The aforesaid position is again reiterated in sub-rule (2) and which stipulates that only such claim for refunds may be made in Form DVAT-21 which have not been claimed in any previous return. It is thus manifest that once a claim for refund stands embodied in the return itself, there is no additional obligation placed upon the assessee to file Form DVAT-21.
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