Allahabad High Court: Goods Not Accompanied by E-way Bill, Without Matching Description Shows Intention to Evade Tax

The Allahabad High Court in the case M/S Gurunanak Arecanut Traders v. Commercial Tax And Another observed and has held that the intention to evade tax is established by the fact that the goods in transit were not accompanied by e-way bill and the goods taxable at 18% were taxed only at 5%.

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The court in the case observed and has held that after 2018, it was mandatory for the assessee to download e-way bill with goods in transit.

The court also stated that it being mandatory on the part of the seller to download the e-way bill once the goods are put in transit. However, subsequent downloading of e-way bill would not absolve the liability under the Act.

In the present matter, the petitioner sold 400 bags of Arecanuts which were being transported from Delhi to Nagpur when they were intercepted in Mathura around 4:28 am and the goods were not accompanied by with e-way bill and the same was generated after interception at 7:36 am.

It was found, upon physical verification of the goods that they were taxable at 18% but were taxed by the petitioner at 5%.

The court in the case issued a show cause notice and the order under Section 129(3) of the GST Act was passed imposing tax demand and penalty on the petitioner.