That under the West Bengal VAT Act, 2003 in terms of Section 26 read with Rule 195 of the WB VAT Rules, 2005 “Security” was required to be furnished at the time of seeking registration under the act. The prevalent security so to be deposited was of Rs. 25,000.
Now in view of applicability of GST and transition of dealers registered under the VAT Act to CGST/ WBGST Act, the registration under the VAT Act and the security so paid at the time of registration has become obsolete.
In view of the above, a refund of the said security can be claimed from the West Bengal VAT authorities in terms of Rule 199 of the West Bengal VAT Rules, 2005.
The procedure for claiming such refund is mentioned hereunder:
- Application by the dealer to the authority to whom such deposit was furnished.
- The application for refund shall contain all particulars about the dealer and details such as date and mode of furnishing such security.
- The applicant shall also furnish an undertaking to the effect that particulars given in the application are correct and complete and he/she has no liability to pay tax under the VAT Act and CST for the relevant period and he/she did not adjust the amount of security with any other application or liability.
On receipt of above referred application, the referred security shall be refunded upon verification of details submitted in the above referred application and upon confirmation that the dealer has no outstanding liability under the VAT Act.
Thus, those dealers of whom assessment has been completed for the year 2016-17 and no demand is outstanding, can certainly claim such refund.
Also, claim for refund of similar deposits made under other state VAT statutes can be made as per extant provisions.
GST Law India is a blog on GST and allied commercial laws managed by members of the law firm ALA Legal.