All notices of 2017-18 issued in extended time period are time barred?
Flood of notices in GST-
On sept 2023 we all saw a flood of notices for year 2017-18. A notification was issued on 5 th July 2022. Notification No. 13/2022-Central Tax. In this notification the due date under section 73 was extended.It read as-
“(i) extends the time limit specified under sub-section (10) of section 73 for issuance of order under subsection (9) of section 73 of the said Act, for recovery of tax not paid or short paid or of input tax credit wrongly availed or utilized, in respect of a tax period for the financial year 2017-18, up to the 30th day of September, 2023;”
Two notifications were also published earlier for the same purpose. They were modified-
“Partial modification of the notifications of the Government of India in the Ministry of Finance (Department of Revenue), No. 35/2020-Central Tax, dated the 3rd April, 2020, published in the Gazette of India, Extraordinary, Part II, Section 3, Sub-section (i), vide number G.S.R. 235(E), dated the 3rd April, 2020 and No. 14/2021-Central Tax, dated the 1st May, 2021,”
Further the notification no. 09/2023 was issued –
“extends the time limit specified under subsection (10) of section 73 for issuance of order under sub-section (9) of section 73 of the said Act, for recovery of tax not paid or short paid or of input tax credit wrongly availed or utilised, relating to the period as specified below, namely:–
(i) for the financial year 2017-18, up to the 31st day of December, 2023;
(ii) for the financial year 2018-19, up to the 31st day of March, 2024;
(iii) for the financial year 2019-20, up to the 30th day of June, 2024.”
Litigation against the extension of time limit for order-
Many cases are filed against this extension. M/s Graziano transmission and SRSS agro pvt ltd Vs union of India, represented by Advocate Avinash Poddar.
In these cases it is accused that the government has misused its power to extent the time limit for issuance of notices and passing of orders.
Section 168A of CGST Act gives the power to extend the time limit. It reads as follows-
“Section [168A. Power of Government to extend time limit in special circumstances.-
(1) Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, the Government may, on the recommendations of the Council, by notification, extend the time limit specified in, or prescribed or notified under, this Act in respect of actions which cannot be completed or complied with due to force majeure.
(2) The power to issue notification under sub-section (1) shall include the power to give retrospective effect to such notification from a date not earlier than the date of commencement of this Act.
Explanation. – For the purposes of this section, the expression “force majeure” means a case of war, epidemic, flood, drought, fire, cyclone, earthquake or any other calamity caused by nature or otherwise affecting the implementation of any of the provisions of this Act.]”
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CA Shafaly Girdharwal
CA
New Delhi, India
CA Shaifaly Girdharwal is a GST consultant, Author, Trainer and a famous You tuber. She has taken many seminars on various topics of GST. She is Partner at Ashu Dalmia & Associates and heading the Indirect Tax department. She has authored a book on GST published by Taxmann.
