Haryana Sets out Procedures for Grant of Refund with Many Checks and Final Supervision by Committee of VAT Officers

[Excise & Taxation Department, Haryana, Memo No. 1543 /ST-7 Dated 20th July, 2017]

Subject: Approval of Refund under the Haryana VAT Act, 2003.

As you are aware that the State Government vide Notification No. 18/ST-1/H.A. 6/2003/S.60/2017 dated 14.06.2017 has substituted Rule 42 of the Haryana VAT Rules, 2003 and new substituted Rule has raised the pecuniary limits of the Refund approving Committees.

The new pecuniary limit prescribed under Rule 42 of Haryana VAT Rule is as under:-

1	Committee comprising of three senior most Additional Excise and Taxation Commissioners from the department side posted at the Head Quarter and an officer not below the rank of Deputy Excise and Taxation Commissioner nominated by the Commissioner as the Member-Secretary. The senior most amongst these Additional Excise and Taxation Commissioners shall be the Chairman.	Above fifty lakh rupees"
"2	Committee comprising of concerned Joint Excise and Taxation Commissioner (Range) as the Chairman; the other two members being one-the senior most Deputy Excise & Taxation Commissioner posted in any district falling in the Range (DETCs may be from either wing i.e. Sales Tax or Excise or Inspection etc. in any of the districts falling in the range); second-the Deputy Excise & Taxation Commissioner (Sale Tax) of the district concerned. The Excise and Taxation Officer working as Nodal Officer (Refund) in the district concerned shall work as Member Secretary.	Above twenty-five lakh and upto fifty lakh rupees"
"3	Committee comprising of Deputy Excise and Taxation Commissioner (Sales Tax) of the district concerned as the Chairman; the other two members being two senior most Excise & Taxation Officers posted in the district (the ETOs may be from either wing i.e. Sales Tax or Excise or Inspection etc.). The Excise & Taxation Officer working as Nodal Officer (Refund) in the district concerned shall work as Member Secretary.	Upto twenty five lakh rupees"

2. With the above revised financial limits in operation now there should not be any resentment on the part of the dealers as about 90% of the refund cases might qualify for approval at the district/range level only. The enhanced financial powers have also put burden on the DETCs and JETCs to be more vigilant while approving refunds. But at the same time, as majority of the orders in which refunds are allowed, are passed by the ETO-cum-AAs so the DETC district in-charge of the district and the JETC (Range) are required to be more cautious while approving refunds otherwise the liberal process may go against the revenue. All the assessing authorities (including ETO and DETC) while passing orders allowing refund should take care that all the required documents including statutory returns, declaration forms and certificates etc. are duly examined and VAT payments verified from the treasury before passing an order allowing refund. The practice of mentioning "refund to be issued after verification of payment" should immediately be stopped and if any such order comes to the notice of the Head Office then disciplinary action shall be taken against the concerned officer who has passed the order without examining and verifying the documents. If a refund has been recommended for approval by an officer, say DETC to Head Office, then it will be assumed that he has carefully examined the said order and supporting documents/file and shall be fully responsible for the lapses detected, if any, resulting into revenue loss to the State.

3. In the course of approving of refunds, if any deficiency or illegality is noticed by the Committee, refund may be revised appropriately by the Committee by passing an order as per law, or by the assessing authority in the light of the deficiency pointed out by the Committee. All such cases with complete details will be forwarded to the Head Office for examining whether the lapse was intentional or not so that necessary disciplinary action can be taken against the erring officers.

4. To have better supervision and check over the subordinate offices, it is further directed that every month:

i All the DETCs would carry out minimum 5% sample checking of refund cases allowed by his subordinate officers namely ETO and AETO in their districts;

ii All the JETC (Range) would carry out minimum 5% random checking of all the refund cases allowed by the DETCs in their respective jurisdiction;

iii Additional ETCs posted in the Head Office would carry out random checking of at least 5% of the cases approved by the JETC Range) in the State. To carry out, the above one Additional ETC will be assigned one particular range for which orders will be issued separately.

iv All the DETCs and the JETCs (Range) would send their reports, dealer- wise, giving complete details of the orders checked by them and the deficiencies noticed if any by 7th of the next month to the Head Office. The DETCs would also endorse a copy of this report to the concerned JETC (Range) as well. These consolidated reports would be put up before the ETC by the Tax Branch through the Additional ETC who is the Chairman of the Committee by 10th of each month.

v The Additional ETCs would put up their reports to the ETC directly.

5. That the lower authority/authorities shall forward the case within 40 days from the receipt of application for refund alongwith their recommendations to the competent Committees for a decision.

It is further directed that these instructions should be circulated to all concerned officers/officials working under your control for strict compliance and report.