GST recharacterisation and input tax credit barred where no proof of inter-State supply and statutory time limit expired

A GST transaction cannot be retrospectively recharacterised as an inter-State supply merely because the parties later contend that IGST should have been charged; where the goods were delivered and received in Jharkhand and there was no proof of movement to Bihar, no revised invoice could be compelled and the original CGST and SGST treatment stood. Input tax credit was also unavailable because section 16(4) of the Bihar GST Act allows credit only within the prescribed statutory period linked to the relevant returns, and that period had expired on the facts. The writ challenge therefore failed on both merits and limitation.

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Issues: (i) Whether the petitioner was entitled to a revised invoice on the footing that the transaction should have been treated as an inter-State supply and the tax originally collected as CGST and SGST ought to be recharacterised as IGST; (ii) whether the claim for input tax credit was available in view of the statutory time limit.

Issue (i): Whether the petitioner was entitled to a revised invoice on the footing that the transaction should have been treated as an inter-State supply and the tax originally collected as CGST and SGST ought to be recharacterised as IGST.

Analysis: The sale was treated as a local sale and the goods were delivered and received in Jharkhand. There was no material showing movement of goods to Bihar, and no basis to treat the transaction as an inter-State supply merely because the parties later asserted that IGST ought to have been charged. Tax collection and credit entries under the GST regime must follow statutory compliance and cannot be altered by private understanding between the parties.

Conclusion: The petitioner was not entitled to a revised invoice or to recharacterisation of the tax as IGST.

Issue (ii): Whether the claim for input tax credit was available in view of the statutory time limit.

Analysis: The invoice pertained to the 2017-18 period, but the writ petition was filed much later. Section 16(4) of the Bihar Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 permits input tax credit only within the prescribed statutory period linked to the return under Section 39 and the relevant annual return. On the facts, the time for availing input tax credit had already expired.

Conclusion: The claim for input tax credit was barred by limitation under the GST statute.

Final Conclusion: The request for correction of the invoice and consequential input tax credit failed on both merits and limitation, leaving no basis for interference in writ jurisdiction.

Ratio Decidendi: A transaction cannot be retrospectively recharacterised for GST purposes, or a revised invoice compelled, in the absence of proof of inter-State movement of goods and statutory compliance; input tax credit must also be claimed within the period prescribed by the GST law.

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