The General Rule of Thumb
Read the Notice and pay the legal dues along with interest and penalty and for the illegal dues present your submissions.
Always frame and present your arguments like its “You and the officer” versus the Notice and note “You versus the Officer”
When officer insists on paying dues that are not legal
If the offences demands the illegal dues to be paid, you have the option either to litigate or to close the demand if the cost of litigations is higher.
The point where it becomes “You versus the Officer”
This is the point where you will never want to go, but sometimes it comes to the point of Higher Pitched Assessment or Harassment in this case we have 3 steps.
Step 1 – Approach higher authorities like JC or DC to let them know that what is happening in your case is illegal.
Step 2 – Let your proper officer know in kindest possible words that what they are doing is illegal and it is a punishable offence as per Section 198 of the BNS and there are compliant channels like CPGRAMS through which the case could be pursued.
Step 3 – If in any unfortunate case, the taxpayer is still harassed, all the illegal mentioned in step 2 shall be taken up.
(In GST litigation, the smartest taxpayers understand one thing: Never make it “You vs the Officer”. Make it “You and the Officer vs the Notice”. Once ego enters litigation, even solvable matters become expensive wars. So take all steps to avoid stopping into that territory but if pushed into those territory make sure you take up the legal fight like a warrior.)
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