Thankavel Pechimuthu Vs State Tax Officer (Kerala High Court)
Kerala High Court held that time limit for furnishing GST return under section 39 for the month of September is to be treated as 30th November in each financial year with effect from 01.07.2017. ITC to be claimed accordingly.
Facts- This batch of writ petitions contains three sets of cases. In some cases, the respective supplier had remitted the tax (GST) but not reflected in their return GSTR due to some technical reasons. Another set of petitioners are those who have received the goods or services and have valid tax invoices, proof of payment of the value of goods along with the GST component to the respective suppliers, but the respective suppliers had not remitted the GST on the supply made by them to the petitioners. The third set of petitioners are those who are in possession of the invoice but have no clear proof of payment of consideration and tax towards the inward supply and might not have received goods in their possession.
Conclusion- Prior to the amendment in Section 39 by the Finance Act 2022, the date for furnishing the return under Section 39 was 30th September. Considering the difficulties in the initial stage of the implementation of the GST regime, its understanding, and compliance, the Legislature effected the amendment and extended the time for filing the return for September to 30th November in each succeeding Financial Year. The amendment is only procedural to ease the difficulties initially faced by the dealers / taxpayers. Therefore, where for the period from 01.07.2017 till 30.11.2022, if a dealer has filed the return after 30th September and the claim for ITC was made before 30th November, the claim for ITC of such dealer should also be processed if he is otherwise entitled to claim the ITC. It has been pointed out in several cases which are pending before this Court that the claim was made before 30th November of the succeeding Financial Year, but the relevant period was 20th October, which was the extended date for furnishing the return under Section 39 for the month of September. Therefore, if a person has furnished the return for the month of September till 30th November, their claim should also be considered and processed and should not be rejected if the dealer did not furnish the return for the month of September on or before 20th October.
