Allahabad HC Allows Taxpayer to Furnish Additional Reply Offline to SCN on GST Portal

The Allahabad High Court has held that taxpayers should be granted permission to file additional or supplementary replies to GST notices through the GST portal and not be forced to rely on offline submissions when the proceedings are primarily conducted online.

In the present case, the tax authorities had cancelled the refund application of the petitioner, M/s Tejashva Tractors and Motors, vide an order dated March 9, 2026. The petitioner highlighted the issue that, though it had furnished a reply to the show cause notice (SCN) issued on February 28, 2026, he was unable to furnish any additional reply as the GSTN portal allowed only one response to a notice.

Therefore, the petitioner claims that its case was not properly considered before the issuance of the final adverse order. The aggrieved petitioner filed a writ petition in the Allahabad High Court. During the personal hearing, the GSTN informed the court that the current system allows only a single online reply; however, any additional submissions can be made offline.

However, the Court noted that notices, replies, and orders under the GST regime are largely exchanged through the online portal. Therefore, requiring taxpayers to adopt a hybrid system (both online and offline) communication cannot be considered an ideal solution.

The Court highlighted that if the GST portal is the preferred mode of communication, it should also provide a mechanism for filing supplementary replies. Consequently, the court recommended that the GST department introduce a new feature allowing taxpayers to request permission online to file additional replies. Once approved by the concerned authority, the portal could enable the taxpayer to upload further submissions.

In the present case, the Court noted that the petitioner had raised a grievance ticket seeking permission to file an additional reply, reflecting that the petitioner was willing to submit further documents. Considering these findings, the court concluded to quash the rejection order and sent the case back to the tax authorities for fresh consideration. Now, the petitioner has been granted the time limit of 15 days to furnish an additional reply offline, after which the authority must decide on the matter afresh within one month.