The Gauhati High Court has held that non-furnishing of information under table 14 of FORM GSTR-9C cannot be construed as a discrepancy till FY 2022-2023.
The bench of Justice Soumitra Saikia has observed that the alleged discrepancy is that the Petitioner did not submit information in Table 14 in Form GSTR-9C and as a result, there was a mismatch with the details furnished in Form GSTR-9. By a series of Instructions/ Notifications issued from time to time during the relevant period, it is clear that submission of information in Table 14 of Form GSTR-9C was made optional.
The bench stated that various Instructions/ Notifications, whereby submission of information in Table 14 of Form GSTR-9C was made optional, are in chronological order listed hereunder. Since the submission of information in Table 14 of Form GSTR-9C was optional, there could arise no issue of either “error” or “discrepancy”, from the non-filing of data in Table 14 of Form GSTR-9C.
The petitioner before this Court is a company registered under the erstwhile Companies Act, 1956 having its registered office. The petitioner company is represented in the present proceedings by the authorized signatory. The petitioner is registered under the provisions of the Central Goods and Service Tax Act, 2017 as well as under the Assam Goods and Service Tax Act, 2017 and having Goods and Service Tax Identification (GSTIN).
The Board of the petitioner‘s company has resolved by Resolution No.49/2022 dated 10.01.2022 to authorize one Mr. Chitwan Prabhakar as the person authorized to file the writ petition and represent the company in the present proceedings.
The petitioner is, inter alia, engaged in the marketing of soft drinks and fruit juices, as well as the manufacturing and supply of food products from its various locations across the country. The petitioner in the present proceedings has assailed the vires of the show cause notice issued by the department under the provisions of section 73(1) of the Central Goods and Service Tax Act, 2017 by alleging a purported mismatch between the details furnished by the petitioner in its annual return filed in the form GSTR-9C and the reconciliation statement filed in FORM of GSTR-9C.
As per the show cause notice, the Input Tax Credit (ITC) reported in FORM GSTR-9C and the expenses reported in the financial statements, which are required to be disclosed in Table 14 of FORM GSTR-9C, appear to be unreconciled. Consequently, the petitioner is alleged to have wrongly availed and utilized Input Tax Credit amounting to Rs. 19,51,41,111 for the period 1st of July, 2017 to 31st March 2018.
The court held that the failure to do so clearly indicates that the demand and recovery proceedings initiated under Section 73 were without a proper finding that the amount sought to be recovered was wrongfully availed by the petitioner. The scheme of the act itself clearly provides that an opportunity must be granted to the assessee to rectify or at least explain the discrepancies found by the revenue in the scrutiny of the returns. This opportunity was admittedly not offered to the assessee. The revenue, without calling for any explanation from the assessee proceeded to initiate proceeding pass under section 73 by issuing the impugned show cause notice.
Case Details
Case Title: M/S. Pepsico India Holdings Pvt. Ltd. Versus Union Of India
Case No.: Case No. : WP(C)/6960/2023
Date: 19.09.2025
Counsel For Petitioner: R Borah, Mr. D Borah
Counsel For Respondent: DY.S.G.I., SC, GST
