Service tax law firm JK Mittal & Co's founder JK Mittal won an order in the Delhi high court exempting lawyers from government action in case of non-observance of the Integrated Goods and Services Tax Act 2017, reported News18.

The Delhi government's notification making law firms liable to pay taxes on all services offered by them conflicts with the GST Council's recommendation that not the provider but the receiver of services is liable to pay tax, submitted Mittal in his petition to the HC.

Also, the registration requirement for lawyers under the Central Goods and Services Tax Act 2017, is redundant for lawyers already being registered under the Finance Act therefore, Mittal submitted, that an exemption should be made.

The bench of justices S Muralidhar and Pratibha M Singh has said that until the government issues a clarification on whether all legal services provided by lawyers and law firms will be governed by the reverse charge mechanism, it can take no coercive action against lawyers and law firms who fail to observe the provisions of the IGST and the CGST.