Refund Limitation To Be Based On Original Claim Date

Case Details: Homag India (P.) Ltd. vs. Joint Commissioner of Central Tax, Appeals-II - [2026] 182 taxmann.com 521 (Karnataka)

Judiciary and Counsel Details

S.R.Krishna Kumar, J
Venkatesh G., Adv. for the Petitioner.
Aravind V. Chavan, Adv. for the Respondent.

Facts of the Case

The petitioner filed a refund under Section 54(3) of the CGST Act within the prescribed period of limitation. Upon scrutiny, a deficiency memo was issued; thereafter, a revised refund application was filed. The revised refund application was thereafter rejected by the Department of Revenue on the ground that it was filed beyond the limitation period. It was contended that for the purpose of computing limitation, the date of filing of the original refund application was required to be considered and not the date of filing of the revised application submitted in response to the deficiency memo. The matter was placed before the High Court.

High Court Held

The High Court held that for determining whether a refund application was filed within the period of limitation prescribed under Section 54(3) of the CGST Act, the relevant date would be the date of filing of the initial refund application. It was found that the issuance of a deficiency memo and the filing of a revised refund application pursuant thereto could not shift the relevant date for computing the limitation. It was held that the finding recorded by the jurisdictional officer under CGST rejecting the refund claim on the ground of limitation by reckoning the date of the revised application was erroneous. The Court accordingly set aside the rejection and remitted the matter back to the authorities for reconsideration.