The Tax Publishers 2019 TaxPub(VAT) 0079 (CESTAT-Chd)

 

Grospinz Fabz Ltd. v. State of Haryana

 

Haryana Value Added Tax Act, 2003

--Penalty under section 31(8)--Attempt to evade taxRelevant documents not furnished by assessee----Where no explanation was offered by assessee as to why the documents of present transaction were not produced before the Checking Officer, either at the time of checking by the driver or subsequently by the assessee itself, when the same were available with the driver, it was definite attempt to evade the tax, and hence, penalty under section 31(8) was rightly imposed on assessee.--During roadside checking, penalty under section 31(8) was imposed on assessee for attempt to evade the tax. Assessee contended that driver inadvertently produced the documents of previous transaction from Delhi to Faridabad, although the documents of present transaction were also there with the driver. Further, it was contended that AO did not give proper opportunity to defend the case. Also, assessee made contention that as there was no evasion of tax of Haryana in inter-State sale of goods from Delhi to Faridabad (Haryana), thus, penalty imposed was not sustainable.Held: There was no explanation, whatsoever, by the assessee as to why the documents of present transaction were not produced before the Checking Officer, either at the time of checking by the driver or subsequently by the assessee itself. Further, the plea of assessee that proper opportunity was not given to defend the case was completely untenable, as AO had issued show-cause notice under section 31(6), but no reply to the said notice was filed although the counsel of assessee appeared before Checking Officer and got the goods released and subsequently also, when the case was fixed for filing of reply, none appeared on behalf of assessee. Also, it was a clear case of evasion of tax of Haryana, as consignee after receiving the goods would not have entered the same in its account books and thus, would have made unaccounted sale resulting in evasion of tax to Haryana. Hence, as there was definite attempt to evade the tax of Haryana by assessee, penalty under section 31(8) was rightly imposed on assessee.

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