Query regarding Section 16(4) of CGST Act

[Jasbir Uppal]

Dear Professionals,

That the applicant firm has filed GSTR-3B for the month of Feb. 2020 Dated 23/10/2020 and turnover was below rupees five crore, and as per Notification No. 29/2020 – Central Tax New Delhi, the 23rd March, 2020 for taxpayers having an aggregate turnover of up to rupees five crore rupees in the previous financial year, whose principal place of business is in the States of Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura, Meghalaya, Assam, West Bengal, Jharkhand or Odisha, the Union territories of Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh, Chandigarh or Delhi, the return in FORM GSTR-3B of the said rules for the months of April, 2020 to September, 2020 shall be furnished electronically through the common portal, on or before the twenty fourth day of the month succeeding such month.

Therefore, my query is the last date for GSTR 3B submission and last date for ITC claim will be considered as 24th Oct 2020 or 20th Oct 2020 as per aforementioned notification ?

Thanks & Regards

J S Uppal

Advocate

AI Summary

Input tax credit time limit not extended by return filing deadline notifications; late fee payment does not preserve expired claims.
The statutory time limit to avail input tax credit is governed by the CGST law's time bar linked to the September return or the annual return, and an administrative notification extending the GSTR 3B filing date does not, by itself, extend that statutory cutoff. Acceptance of belated returns upon payment of late fee admits the return for verification but does not regularize or extend the separate statutory entitlement to claim input tax credit absent explicit legislative amendment. Books of account remain the foundational basis for entitlement, with electronic ledger entries being administrative reflections.