High Court Quashes GST SCN Issued for Multiple Financial Years in a Single Notice

Uber India Systems Private Limited was served with a show cause notice dated 12.06.2024 by the CGST authorities at Visakhapatnam. The notice proposed levy of tax and penalty for the financial years 2018-19, 2019-20 and 2020-21 through a single consolidated proceeding.

Aggrieved by the issuance of a common notice covering multiple assessment periods, the petitioner approached the High Court under Article 226 of the Constitution of India seeking quashing of the impugned SCN. Before the Court, the petitioner contended that separate financial years constitute distinct taxation periods and that the department could not club multiple years into one composite show cause notice.

Main Issue: Whether the GST authorities can issue a single consolidated show cause notice covering multiple financial years, or whether separate show cause notices are required for each distinct taxation period.

HC Held: The High Court allowed the writ petition and set aside the challenged show cause notice dated 12.06.2024.

Relying upon S.J Constructions v. The Assistant Commissioner, the Court reiterated, that assessment proceedings for each financial year must be initiated through separate show cause notices. Since the impugned SCN covered more than one taxation period (2018-19 to 2020-21), it was held to be unsustainable in law.

The Court clarified that the order would not preclude the authorities from initiating fresh proceedings in accordance with law.

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