The GSTAT Thiruvananthapuram Bench has allowed three appeals by a cashew kernel exporter and directed refund of Rs. 18,27,272 being IGST paid twice on exports due to a clerical error in GSTR-3B column selection, holding that the excess paid amount cannot be retained by the Revenue and must be refunded. The ruling by Vice-President Subramanya Rayaprol and Member (Technical) Ramamoorthi Sriram in APL/6, 8, 9/TVP/2026 (M/s Choice Cashew Industries, decided 17.09.2026) found that both the Assistant Commissioner and the Joint Commissioner (Appeals) had mechanically rejected the refund without understanding which amount was claimed and which had already been refunded through the automated Customs system.
The exporter had correctly shown exports and IGST in GSTR-1 but entered the figures in Table 3.1(a) (other than zero rated) instead of Table 3.1(b) (zero rated) in GSTR-3B for November 2018, December 2018 and February 2019. The automated Customs refund system did not process the refund due to the mismatch. The exporter paid IGST again in August 2019 under the correct column and received refund through the automated system. The original payments remained unrefunded. The Tribunal relied on the Orissa HC in Rajendra Narayan Mohanty (holding that retention of excess tax violates Article 265) and the Karnataka HC in Merck Life Science (holding that Section 54 limitation is directory when tax is paid erroneously). The wrong column entry was a clerical mistake that cannot penalise the taxpayer.
- 2026-juristway.com-2548-GSTAT(Thiruvananthapuram)-GST | GSTAT Thiruvananthapuram Bench | APL/6, 8, 9/TVP/2026 | 17.09.2026