SC denies Rs 923-crore refund to Bharti Airtel, quashes HC order

The Supreme Court has set aside the Delhi High Court order, which had permitted Bharti Airtel to claim refund of Rs 923 crore of goods and services tax (GST) from the government. The telecom operator claimed that it had paid an excess GST for July-September, 2017 and wanted to rectify its relevant returns for that period to get the refund.

The company had pleaded that it had paid more taxes since the GST system faced technical glitches that time because of which it could not correctly estimate its input tax credit.

According to experts, the Supreme Court’s verdict will have ramifications for various companies that paid higher taxes because the IT systems — both of the government and of companies — had not stabilised in the initial phase of the GST roll-out. The GST system was introduced in July, 2017.

Various forms were put in abeyance due to these glitches and the companies were filing input output summary returns — GSTR3B. One of such suspended forms was GSTR2A, which is a purchase return and gets auto-populated once the seller files his returns. This form finally got operationalised in September, 2018. Only after that form is operationalised, Airtel came to know that it has sufficient credit in its input tax credit. Now, the telco wants to rectify its GSTR3B for the relevant period to get a refund of the excess amount. The high court had allowed it.

Aggrieved, the Centre had moved Supreme Court. The apex court did not allow the rectification in the previous form. It agreed with the government that if the changes are allowed, it would not only be illegal but would simply lead to chaotic situations and collapse of tax administration since it would have a cascading effect on the recipients and suppliers associated with the Airtel.

Rajat Mohan, senior partner at AMRG & Associates, said in the first nine months of the GST roll-out, systems of companies and government had not stabilised. So, many companies overestimated their GST liability. With this court order, their claims for refunds would also not be met. 

Unlike the previous service tax system, companies have to register in each state they are providing services in and with the Union government under the GST regime, Mohan said. As such, their ERP and SAP were not attuned to such a massive change in the initial phase, he said. System got stabilised after 2017-18 and there are miniscule errors now, he emphasised.