Refund limitation under GST must exclude the notified COVID period, so the rejected input tax credit claim was restored for merits review.

A refund claim for input tax credit for April 2018 had been rejected as time-barred under the two-year limitation in Section 54 of the CGST Act, 2017. The respondents accepted that Notification No. 13/2022-Central Tax required exclusion of the period from 01.03.2020 to 28.02.2022 for computing limitation for refund applications under Sections 54 and 55. In view of that concession, the earlier rejection could not stand, and the refund claim was required to be examined on merits; the matter was restored to the Assistant Commissioner and the impugned orders were set aside.

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Issues: Whether the petitioner's refund claim for input tax credit for April 2018, earlier rejected as time-barred under Section 54 of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017, was liable to be reconsidered in view of the notification excluding the period from 01.03.2020 to 28.02.2022.

Analysis: The refund application had been rejected on the ground that it was filed beyond the two-year limitation period prescribed under Section 54 of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017. The respondents stated that the case was covered by Notification No. 13/2022-Central Tax dated 05.07.2021, under which the period from 01.03.2020 to 28.02.2022 was required to be excluded for computing limitation for refund applications under Sections 54 and 55 of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017. In view of that concession, the earlier rejection could not stand and the refund claim had to be examined on merits.

Conclusion: The refund claim was directed to be restored to the Assistant Commissioner for on merits, and the impugned orders rejecting the claim as time-barred were set aside.

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