Ashutosh Bandyopadhay Vs Union of India (Tripura High Court)
The Tripura High Court allowed a writ petition concerning invoices reported under the petitioner’s GST TDS GSTIN instead of its regular GSTIN for the period 01.05.2019 to 05.02.2020. The petitioner was registered under the CGST Act, 2017 and contended that the mistake was inadvertent. A letter dated 29.11.2022 from the 7th respondent certified that the relevant invoices had been filed against the GST TDS GSTIN rather than the regular GSTIN in the petitioner’s GSTR-1 returns.
The petitioner sought rectification so that the tax paid could be reflected against the correct GSTIN and the corresponding Input Tax Credit could be availed. The respondents opposed the request, contending that jurisdictional tax authorities lacked power or access to rectify taxpayer errors and that entries submitted on the GST portal could not be altered. They also contended that ITC could be availed by the service recipient only where the supplier reported invoices against the recipient’s GSTIN.
The Court considered judgments of the Bombay High Court in Star Engineers (I) Pvt. Ltd. vs. Union of India and Aberdare Technologies Pvt. Ltd. and Another vs. Central Board of Indirect Taxes & Customs and Others. Those decisions recognized that bona fide and inadvertent errors in GST returns could be corrected where there was no loss of revenue. The Supreme Court, in Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs vs. Aberdare Technologies Private Limited and Others, dismissed the challenge to the latter decision on 21.03.2025, observing that software limitations could not by themselves justify denying correction of bona fide clerical or arithmetical errors.
