GST Refund of ITC of previous month Invoices availed in Next Months
Refer Circular No 79/50/2018 GST Dated 31st December 2018 : Clarification on refund related issues
Non-consideration of ITC of GST paid on invoices of earlier tax period availed in subsequent tax period:
Presently, ITC is reflected in the electronic credit ledger on the basis of the amount of the ITC availed on self declaration basis in FORM GSTR-3B for a particular tax period. It may happen that the goods purchased against a particular tax invoice issued in a particular month, say August 2017, may be declared in the FORM GSTR-3B filed for a subsequent month, say September 2017. This is inevitable in cases where the supplier raises an invoice, say in August, 2017, and the goods reach the recipient‟s premises in September, 2017. Since GST law mandates that ITC can be availed only after the goods are received, the recipient can only avail the ITC on such goods in the FORM GSTR-3B filed for the month of September, 2017. However, it has been observed that field officers are excluding such invoices from the calculation of refund of unutilized ITC filed for the month of September, 2017.
In this regard, it is clarified that “Net ITC‟ as defined in rule 89(4) of the CGST Rules means input tax credit availed on inputs and input services during the relevant period. Relevant period means the period for which the refund claim has been filed. Input tax credit can be said to have been “availed‟ when it is entered into the electronic credit ledger of the registered person. Under the current dispensation, this happens when the said taxable person files his/her monthly return in FORM GSTR-3B. Further, section 16(4) of the CGST Act stipulates that ITC may be claimed on or before the due date of filing of the return for the month of September following the financial year to which the invoice pertains or the date of filing of annual return, whichever is earlier. Therefore, the input tax credit of invoices issued in August, 2017, “availed‟ in September, 2017 cannot be excluded from the calculation of the refund amount for the month of September, 2017.