- Delhi High Court in Vallabh Textiles[1] - Payments made during Investigation having no colour of voluntariness, should be refunded to the assessee, since they are collected without following procedure of law:
A search was carried out by the tax authorities on the petitioner from 16th February to 17th February 2022. During the course of search, the petitioner has paid tax amounting approximately to Rs 1.8 Crore. The said payments were made between 01:28 AM to 07:03 AM on 17th February 2022. The petitioner stated that the said payments were not made voluntarily but only on the coercion of the tax authorities. The tax authorities contend that since payments were made vide DRC-03 challans, the allegation of coercion is an afterthought.
The Court after going through the submissions made by both the parties, has stated that Rule 142(1A) of CT Rules[2] clearly provides that the proper officer has to issue DRC-04 acknowledging the payment of tax made by person and in the facts it is clear that although the payments were made in DRC-03, no document has been placed by revenue (tax authorities) that they have accepted the payment. Hence, the stand taken by the revenue that the payments are voluntary payments and not out of coercion is required to be set aside. Further, the court stated the fact that the said taxes were paid in the early morning hours during search also indicate the payment is out of coercion.
The Court stated that the tax authorities have violated instructions in Instruction No 01/2022-23 dated 25.05.22 issued by CBIC (dealing with the subject of deposit of tax during the course of search, inspection or investigation) and has not adopted the principles laid by Gujarat High Court in Bhumi Associate vs Union of India (MANU/GJ/0174/2021). In Bhumi Associate (supra), it was clearly stated that there should not be any tax payment during the search. Even if it is voluntary payment, the same should be after the closure of search. The Court stated that the said guidelines were violated and accordingly asked the tax authorities to refund the tax along with interest.