GST Dept. Clarifies Not mandatory to Recover GST Dues During Search & Investigation; Taxpayers have option to pay Tax dues through Portal

The GST Department vide Instruction No.1/2022-23(GST Investigation) dated 25.05.2022. clarifies that, It is not mandatory to Recover GST Dues During Search & Investigation; Taxpayers have option to pay Tax dues through Portal.

The Instruction is Given Below:

During the course of search, inspection or investigation, sometimes the taxpayers opt for deposit of their partial or full GST liability arising out of the issue pointed out by the department during the course of such search, inspection or investigation by furnishing DRC-03. Instances have been noticed where some of the taxpayers after voluntarily depositing GST liability through DRC-03 have alleged use of force and coercion by the officers for making ‘recovery’ during the course of search or inspection or investigation. Some of the taxpayers have also approached Hon’ble High Courts in this regard.

The matter has been examined. Board has felt the necessity to clarify the legal position of voluntary payment of taxes for ensuring correct application of law and to protect the interest of the taxpayers. It is observed that under CGST Act, 2017 a taxpayer has an option to deposit the tax voluntarily by way of submitting DRC-03 on GST portal. Such voluntary payments are initiated only by the taxpayer by logging into the GST portal using its login id and password. Voluntary payment of tax before issuance of show cause notice is permissible in terms of provisions of Section 73(5) and Section 7 4 (5) of the CGST Act, 2017. This helps the taxpayers in discharging their admitted liability, self-ascertained or as ascertained by the tax officer, without having to bear the burden of interest under Section 50 of CGST Act, 2017 for delayed payment of tax and may also save him from higher penalty imposable on him subsequent to issuance of show cause notice under Section 73 or Section 74, as the case may be.

It is further observed that recovery of taxes not paid or short paid, can be made under the provisions of Section 79 of CGST Act, 2017 only after following due legal process of issuance of notice and subsequent confirmation of demand by issuance of adjudication order. No recovery can be made unless the amount becomes payable in pursuance of an order passed by the adjudicating authority or otherwise becomes payable under the provisions of CGST Act and rules made therein. Therefore, there may not arise any situation where “recovery” of the tax dues has to be made by the tax officer from the taxpayer during the course of search, inspection or investigation, on account of any issue detected during such proceedings. However, the law does not bar the taxpayer from voluntarily making payment of any tax liability ascertained by him or the tax officer in respect of such issues, either during the course of such proceedings or subsequently.

As a result, it is clear that there may be no circumstances necessitating ‘recovery’ of tax dues during the course of search, inspection, or investigation operations. However, there is no prohibition on taxpayers making voluntary contributions based on the determination of their obligation for non-payment/short payment of taxes before or at any stage of such proceedings. However, the tax officer must tell taxpayers about the provisions for voluntary tax payments through DRC,..03.

Pr. Chief Commissioners/Chief Commissioners, CGST Zones and Pr. Director General, DGGI are advised that if any complaint is received from a taxpayer regarding the use of force or coercion by any of their officers in obtaining the amount deposited during search, inspection, or investigation, the same should be investigated as soon as possible, and if any wrongdoing on the part of any tax officer, strict disciplinary action as per law may be taken against the defaulting offender.

For Official Instruction Download PDF Given Below: