1. Summary - Section 74(2) Limitation for FY 2020-21
For FY 2020-21, the extended due date for filing the annual return (GSTR-9) was 28.02.2022. Accordingly, assuming Section 74(10) applies without any further extension, the five-year outer limit for passing the order is 28.02.2027.
Section 74(2) expressly provides that the proper officer "shall issue the notice under sub-section (1) at least six months prior to [the] time limit specified in sub-section (10) for issuance of order."
Therefore:
Thus, an SCN first issued on 31.08.2026 gives the taxpayer a strong prima facie objection under Section 74(2) because the statutory six-month interval was not preserved.
The objection should preferably be framed not merely as "SCN is beyond limitation", since Section 74(10) itself permits the order up to 28.02.2027. Rather, the argument should be that the SCN was not issued in accordance with the mandatory statutory condition in Section 74(2) requiring issuance at least six months before the Section 74(10) deadline.
The principal Revenue defence is that Section 74(2) does not expressly prescribe that an SCN issued within the final six months is void, and that the requirement may be directory, particularly where no prejudice is demonstrated.
Importantly, the mandatory-versus-directory nature of Section 74(2) is presently an unsettled issue before the Supreme Court in Bengal Cold Rollers. Hence, the SCN should not be treated as conclusively void, but the limitation objection is sufficiently strong that it should be expressly raised and preserved.
The actual date of issuance/upload on the GST portal, DIN generation date and date of communication should also be verified, as these may materially affect the limitation analysis.
Overall position: STRONG / REASONABLY DEFENSIBLE limitation objection, but final outcome remains UNCERTAIN pending authoritative Supreme Court determination.
TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
03 Sep 2026 
722 Views 
I support the reply.
Sir,
I have a doubt. The last date for the issuance of the SCN is mentioned as 28-08-2026. How is this determined? Section 74(2) prescribes it in months, not days. So, calendar months are countable, not days, to determine 6 months. Then, is it correct to treat a shortfall of 3 days? 6 months count from Sept-26 to the end of Feb-27. Even if it is considered date-to-date, there are months with 31 days between the period from 28-08-2026 to 28-02-2027. How to decide period of 6 months.