Limitation for GST refund claims runs from the later circular clarification date, with COVID extension also applying

Refund claims under the CGST Act were treated as timely because the limitation period was reckoned from 01.08.2019, when Circular No. 23/2019 clarified that Customs authorities would process such claims, rather than from the earlier notification date. The period was also required to account for the Supreme Court's COVID-19 extension of limitation. On that basis, the claims were not barred by limitation, the rejection on time-bar was set aside, and consequential relief followed.

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Issues: Whether the refund claims filed under Section 55 read with Section 54(2) of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 were barred by limitation and liable to be rejected as time barred.

Analysis: The time limit prescribed in Notification No. 20/2018-Central Tax dated 28.03.2018 was held to run from 01.08.2019, when Circular No. 23/2019-Customs dated 01.08.2019 clarified that Customs authorities would process such refund claims. The period also overlapped with the COVID-19 extension granted by the Supreme Court, which further enlarged the time available for filing the claims.

Conclusion: The refund claims were held to be within time and not liable to rejection on limitation.

Final Conclusion: The impugned order was set aside and the appeals were allowed with consequential reliefs.

Ratio Decidendi: Where the competent authority for filing a refund claim is clarified later by circular, the limitation for such claim is to be reckoned from that clarification date and, where applicable, must also account for the judicial extension of limitation during the COVID-19 period.

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