The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) notified retrospective amendments to section 140 of CGST Act, granting it the power to prescribe a time limit for availing transitioning credit the credit from pre-goods and services tax (GST) regime which was moved to the GST regime as an input tax credit from July 1, 2017. “The Central Government hereby appoints the 18th day of May 2020, as the date on which the provisions of Section 128 of the Finance Act, 2020, shall come into force,” the notification issued on Saturday said.
The notification could well negate the benefit granted by the Delhi High Court to all assessees of availing pending input tax credit till June 30, 2020, through an order passed on May 5. The High Court had ruled that the time limit for transitional credit was only ‘directory’ in nature and not ‘mandatory’, allowed a three-year time limit from July 1, 2017, to claim the credits.
The Notification can be accessed at: https://www.cbic.gov.in/resources//htdocs-cbec/gst/notfctn-43-central-tax-english-2020.pdf;jsessionid=D81EFEA559F51F45E44BBBC49E788165