OUR REPRESENTATION TO HON’BLE FINANCE MINISTER AND GST COUNCIL FOR EXTENSION OF DUE DATE FOR CLAIMING ITC FOR THE F.Y. 2018-19

Ref : TC/19-20/2                                                                                                                Date : 18^th October, 2019

To,

Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman, Hon’ble Union Minister of Finance, Govt. of India & Chairperson – GST Council ; 134, North Block, New Delhi – 110 001

The Office of GST Council Secretariat, 5^th Floor, Tower II, Jeevan Bharat Building, Janpath Road ; Connaught Place, New Delhi – 110 001

Contact.gstcouncil@gov.in

Respected Madam/Sir,

Sub.: Extension of due date for claiming ITC for the F.Y. 2018-19

Tax Concept is the body of professionals established in 2019. The association has over 1,500 members across India (Such as CAs, CSs, CMAs and tax practitioners).

Our aim is to educate and serve professions in a better way.

We thank the government for giving due consideration to the problems faced by the taxpayers from time to time. The government has issued clarifications from time to time to help us for comply with new provisions/updates.

Madam/Sir, we would like to draw your kind attention to one very important provision of law with respect to entitlement of input tax credit :

Section 16 (4) of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act 2017, provides :

“A registered person shall not be entitled to take input tax credit in respect of any invoice or debit note for supply of goods or services or both after the due date of furnishing of the return under section 39 for the month of September following the end of financial year to which such invoice or invoice relating to such debit note pertains or furnishing of the relevant annual return, whichever is earlier.”

After considering the above provision of act, the due date for claiming ITC for F.Y. 2018-19 is 20^th Oct, 2019.

But this is not possible for us to comply with this provision, because it requires proper reconciliation and we also have to comply with the other provisions/forms of law.

You know that October is the month, where 4 important due date falls under GST Act :

• 11^th Oct : Due date for filing monthly GSTR-1
• 18^th Oct : Due date for filing  composition return (CMP-08)
• 20^th Oct : Due date for filing GSTR-3B and
• 31^st Oct : Due date for filing quarterly GSTR-1

Most importantly, the due date for filing income tax audit report is also 31^st Oct, 2019

So as to reduce the loss of eligible and legal input tax credit and to reduce the possible litigations on this count, it is humbly submitted before your good self to kindly consider the practical difficulty faced by all the stake holders and extend the date for availing the input tax credit for the year 2018-19.

We would like to humbly mention here that for the year 2017-18, this date was extended till 31^st March, 2019 by way of a Removal of Difficulty Order No 2/2018 dated 31.12.2018. The following was the insertion :

“Provided that the registered person shall be entitled to take input tax credit after the due date of furnishing of the return under section 39 for the month of September, 2018 till the due date of furnishing of the return under the said section for the month of March, 2019 in respect of any invoice or invoice relating to such debit note for supply of goods or services or both made during the financial year 2017-18, the details of which have been uploaded by the supplier under sub-section (1) of section 37 till the due date for furnishing the details under sub-section (1) of said section for the month of March, 2019.”

Madam/Sir, we pray before your good self to kindly consider the practical challenges of tax payers as well as professionals and extend the date up till which the missed input tax credit can be availed up to 31.03.2020. This will help all the stake holders to comply with all the laws without any haste or anxiety. And this will finally be helpful to the officers during assessments.

Thanking You,

             Sincerely Yours,

Tax Concept Team