The Delhi High Court has refused to waive 10% pre-deposit for filing Goods and Service Tax (GST) Appeal.
The bench of Justice Prathiba M. Singh and Justice Rajneesh Kumar Gupta observed that insofar as the admitted tax, interest or penalty is concerned, the entire amount would have to be deposited. In so far as the disputed amount is concerned, 10% of the tax would have to be deposited as a pre-deposit along with the appeal. The provision does not give discretion for waiver of the pre-deposit.
The Petitioner/assessee stated that there were some mistakes in the Returns filed, at the time when the transition took place into the GST regime and due to such mistakes on part of the accountant of the Petitioner, wrong turnover was mentioned, though, ITC was never availed on the said amount. In respect of two of the entities being M/s DST Kumar Traders and M/s Vinay Sales Corporation, the Petitioner had never availed the ITC during the relevant period. Thus, both the amounts which are being raised are incorrectly being raised by the Respondent-Department, hence the prayer for pre- deposit waiver.
The assessee contended that it is a supplier to various Government entities and the Petitioner has to recover more than Rs. 6.4 crores from Government Departments. In addition, the bank statement of the Petitioner is relied upon to argue that some securities to the tune of Rs.4 crores are also lying with Government Departments. Hence, the Petitioner may be granted a waiver of pre-deposit.
The court held that the prayer for waiver of pre-deposit cannot be entertained. However, if there is any amount lying with the Government entities which the Petitioner wishes to rely upon as being part of the pre-deposit, the Petitioner is free to make a prayer before the concerned Appellate Authority. Rs. 20 lakhs is also lying with the Department out of a total of Rs. 64 lakhs which is to be deposited by the Petitioner. The submission may also be made before the concerned Appellate Authority.
Case Details
Case Title: M/S Impressive Data Services Private Limited Versus Commissioner (Appeals-I), Central Tax GST
Case No.: W.P.(C) 4662/2025 & CM APPL. 21564/2025
Date: 15th April, 2025
Counsel For Petitioner: Pranay Jain
Counsel For Respondent: Ruchesh Sinha
Read More: Gross And Net GST revenue collections For April 2025
