GST Authorities Must Proceed Against Legal Heirs, Not Deceased Persons: High Court:

GST Authorities Must Proceed Against Legal Heirs, Not Deceased Persons: High Court The Allahabad High Court has set aside a GST demand order that was issued in the name of a person who had already passed away. It ruled that the determination cannot be made against a dead person. The petitioner, Rajvanti Devi's husband, had passed away in May 2021. Even after this, the GST department issued a show-cause notice in December 2023 in the name of her late husband. Since the said notice was uploaded on the GST portal to a deceased person who cannot access it, it remained unanswered. As a result, the GST Department passed the final GST order in 2024, raising demand against the petitioner's late husband.

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The petitioner approached the Allahabad High Court, arguing that if the GST Department knows that the owner of the firm has died and the registration of the firm has been cancelled, it cannot pass an order against or conduct proceedings against that deceased person. The Department, on the other hand, contended that Section 93 of the Act allows the authority to recover the tax from the legal heirs even after the death of the taxpayer. The High Court clarified that even though the GST Act allows the recovery from the legal representatives in case the business is continued after the death by the legal heirs of the deceased or if the business is discontinued, it does not allow tax proceedings to be carried out against a deceased person. In other words, the determination cannot be made against the dead.

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The court ruled that since the provision covers the tax liability of a legal representative after the death of the owner of the firm, the show cause notice must be issued to the legal representative and the determination must be made after considering the replies from that legal representative. As the notice was not issued to the legal representative in the present case and the determination was made against a dead person, the court ruled that the order and the proceedings were invalid from the start. Therefore, the court quashed and set aside the GST demand Order.