The GST Appellate Tribunal at Delhi allowed the Revenue’s appeal against Union Bank of India, holding that a consolidated excess-payment refund must be tested for limitation month by month.

A refund claim for excess tax paid across several months is not a single composite claim for limitation, and the relevant date for each month is the date of filing that month’s Form GSTR‑3B, the GST Appellate Tribunal (GSTAT) at Delhi has held [Vishal Chaudhary v. Union Bank of India, 2026-juristway.com-3457-GSTAT(Delhi)-GST].

The Bench of Sanjay Kumar Aggarwal, Vice President and Judicial Member, and Rajiv Kapoor, Member (Technical), heard the Department’s appeal against an order-in-appeal of 3 Nov 2021.

On 6 May 2020 the bank filed a refund application for ₹1,35,34,594 under the “any other” category for excess payment of tax, showing the tax period as March 2018. The original authority rejected the whole claim, and the appellate authority reversed that.

The Tribunal held that under clause (h) of the Explanation to Section 54 of the CGST Act, 2017, limitation for excess tax runs from the date of payment, and so had to be examined separately for each month from July 2017. Excess paid in earlier months could not be carried into a claim for March 2018 to get around the time limit.

Applying the extensions under Notification No. 35/2020-Central Tax, as amended by Notification No. 55/2020-Central Tax, and the exclusion under Notification No. 13/2022-Central Tax together with the Supreme Court’s suo motu limitation order of 10 Jan 2022, it held the claims for July 2017 to January 2018 time-barred under Section 54(1). The bank had not established on the record its alternative plea under Article 265 of the Constitution.

The claim for February 2018 was saved by Notification No. 13/2022-Central Tax and is to be quantified and refunded after segregation from the consolidated claim. The claim for March 2018 was within time, but on the bank’s own month-wise figures there was no excess payment that month, so the refund was nil.

The order-in-appeal was set aside to that extent.

2026-juristway.com-3457-GSTAT(Delhi)-GST