Ahmedabad: The Gujarat High Court on Monday directed the Central Goods and Service Tax Department (CGST Department) not to initiate any coercive action against lawyers in connection with the notices issued to them demanding payment of service tax/GST.
Taking note of an Orissa High Court order on this issue in March last year, a division bench of Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice Nisha M Thakore passed this ad-interim order.
"We take note of the order passed by Orissa High Court on March 31, 2021. The matter requires consideration. By way of an ad-interim order, we direct that no coercive action shall be taken against advocates, law firms of advocates including LLPs providing legal service, for non-compliance with any legal requirements under CGST, DGST or IGST," the court order stated.
The bench was hearing a plea by the Gujarat High Court Advocates Association (GHCAA) challenging the CGST notices issued to a large number of lawyers.
When the court questioned the need for the association and not the affected advocates to move the plea, advocate Masoom Shah, appearing for the association, said a large number of lawyers had been getting such notices because the Income Tax Department was not aware if the affected person was a lawyer and whether eligible for reverse charge mechanism under the law.
He pointed out, "The Income Tax Department sends data (to CGST). The Department is not aware whether an individual is a lawyer or not. Large number of lawyers have received such notices."
Senior Advocate Saurabh N Soparkar led the case on behalf of GHCAA.
The Orissa High Court had in March 2021, directed the Commissioner of GST to issue clear instructions to all officers in Odisha clarifying that no notice demanding the payment of service tax/GST should be issued to practising advocates.
