Exporters get Delhi HC relief over integrated goods and services tax

The Delhi High Court has given relief to exporters utilising a scheme that allows duty-free importers from paying integrated goods and services tax (IGST) on their imports. 

Abhishek Rastogi, partner, Khaitan & Co, who argued the case in the court, said a petition was filed, challenging the move to impose IGST on advance authorisation scheme for exporters. An advance authorisation is issued to allow duty-free import of inputs, which are physically incorporated in export product. While upfront exemption was extended only to basic Customs duty, exporters were required to pay IGST on imports.  Hearing the case, the court had issued an interim order to prohibit charging of IGST on imports under the scheme. Following this, the GST Council had amended the rules in October to this effect. However, an issue still remained as to what happened to those who had not paid IGST on imports between July and October.   

Various petitions came up for final hearing before the court on Monday.  The court upheld the eligibility of the benefit with retrospective effect from July, said Rastogi.  The court observed the most appropriate course of action for the authorities would be to verify fulfilment of obligations under advance authorisation licences and assess cases accordingly, instead of charging IGST on imports, he said.