Page 22 - Banking Finance May 2023

LEGAL UPDATE

Legal

Travel co asked to refund ining the reply from the company and can be proved only by furnishing the
after conducting a random check by name and address of the selling dealer,
flyers Rs. 8 crore it got
making direct calls to 70 consumers details of the vehicle which has deliv-
from airlines for pandemic who had booked tickets through the ered the goods, payment of freight
online firm. The company had submit- charges, acknowledgement of taking
disruptions
ted to the authority how it is "commit- delivery of goods, tax invoices and pay-
The Central Consumer Protection Au- ted to ensuring all out efforts towards ment particulars etc."
thority (CCPA) ordered online travel completing the pending refunds" and
However, the SC added that while the
agency Yatra to refund the payments had even said it was "ready to deposit"
tax invoice and cheque can be said to
of Rs 8.32 crore to customers, which the pending refund amount of Rs 8.32
be proving one of the documents, it is
it has received from airlines but has not crore in "an escrow account", if it was
not sufficient to prove the genuineness
been able to return to the customers directed to do so.
of the transaction.
for the suspension of flights during
It should be noted that e-way bills and
Covid-19 pandemic. The company has Invoices, cheque payment,
e-invoicing under the GST regime can
been directed to submit an action plan
insufficient to claim Input come handy to claim ITC in this regard.
for payment of refund.
Tax Credit: SC "Though the ruling is under VAT, GST
The CCPA has initiated suo motu probe
into the pending refund of payments to The Supreme Court (SC) has set aside authorities may now ask for additional
documents to substantiate input tax
customers by Yatra Online despite the a Karnataka High Court order that al-
lowed dealers to claim input tax credit claims by placing reliance on the prin-
direction from Supreme Court in Octo-
ciples laid down in the ruling. How-
ber 2020 to make the refund within (ITC) under the VAT regime by produc-
ing invoices and cheque payments. ever, apart from invoice and proof of
three months. Stating that the com-
payment, documents such as E-waybill
pany has violated the direction of the The SC allowed tax authorities' appeal
and E-Invoice, could help in substanti-
Supreme Court, the CCPA said, "It is against the High Court judgment. It
ating the genuineness of the transac-
clear that the company has not made said a dealer claiming ITC has to prove
tion under the GST regime," said
any significant effort and neither has beyond doubt the occurrence of the
Harpreet Singh, partner at KPMG
created any specific arrangement to actual transaction" and the "actual
India.
refund Rs 8.32 crore to 16,090 custom- physical movement of the goods".
ers and are sitting tight over the re-
It pronounced the order HC as "erro- Inherited assets tax: ITAT
funds received by various airlines."
neous" and said that, "for claiming ITC,
bats for legal heir
The order was passed by CCPA chief genuineness of the transaction and
commissioner, Nidhi Khare and com- actual physical movement of the goods The Mumbai bench of the Income Tax
missioner, Anupam Mishra after exam- are the sine qua non and the aforesaid Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) has settled in
BANKING FINANCE | MAY | 2023 | 21