GST Number of Purchaser in GSTR-1 cannot be Rectified after Expiry of Limitation Period: Punjab & Haryana HC [Read Order]

The Punjab & Haryana High Court in the case of Bar Code India Limited vs Union of India held that the GST Number of purchasers in GSTR-1 return cannot be rectified after expiry of the limitation period. The bench held that merely because of an error being committed by a particular company, which causes loss to the purchaser company, the provisions of the Act need not be interpreted to suit them.

Bar Code India Limited, the petitioner/assessee company has issued invoices to the purchaser for financial year 2021- 2022 where erroneously at the time of filing of GSTR-1 return, the petitioner company made certain inadvertent errors by mentioning the point of sale as Mumbai instead of Delhi and also mentioned the GST number of the receiver/ purchaser of Mumbai instead of GST number of the purchaser in Delhi.

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The petitioner submitted that the errors in the GSTR-1 return filed the petitioner came to their knowledge after the concerned purchaser notified the error to them somewhere in the month of April 2023 as they found difficulty to avail GST input tax credit.

The purchaser refused to clear the other invoices of the petitioner. Immediately, the petitioner sent a letter dated 18.08.2023 to department praying for allowing them to make necessary amendments in their return relating to the three invoices issued on 13.05.2021. The department, rejected the prayer on account of there being no provision to make amendments after the time period.

It was evident that the process happens on its the matching and correction own as per the mechanism specified in Sections 37 and 38, after which Form GSTR- 3 is generated for the purposes of submission of returns;and once it is submitted, any changes thereto may have cascading effect. Therefore, the law permits rectification of errors and omissions only at the initial stages of Forms GSTR-1 and manner. It is a different GSTR-3, but in the specified dispensation provided than the one in pre-GST period, which did not have the provision of auto-populated records and entries.

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 It  was  noticed  that  as  soon as  the  supplier  files  GSTR-1 mentioning the invoice amount, place of sale and the GSTR Number, the system auto generate GSTR-2A of the recipient of the supplier, which is the basis for claiming input tax credit through GSTR-3B.

As per Section 16 (4) of the Act, a registered person shall not be entitled to take input tax credit after the due date of furnishing of the return under Section 39 of the Act for the month of September following the end of financial year to which such invoice or debit note pertains or furnishing of the relevant annual return, whichever is earlier.

The division  bench of Justice Sanjeev Prakash Sharma and Justice Sanjay Vashisth has observed that

“Even if the petitioner is allowed to rectify the return now, there will not be an automatic benefit of income tax credit, which the purchaser can claim. Had the petitioner detected its error prior to filing of annual return, it could have simply rectified the same in the GSTR-1 for that month as the common portal allows rectification of such error till the filing of the annual return.”

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The bench held that merely because of an error being committed by a particular company, which causes loss to the purchaser company, the provisions of the Act need not be interpreted to suit them. The law is settled that a person who is engaged in business has to be well versed with the provisions of law including the time frame provided under the said provisions. Both the companies, long and if as asserted by the respondents, they have committed an error, are engaged in business since the law cannot be changed for giving them any such benefit.

The court dismissed the writ petition being found to be without any force.

To Read the full text of the Order CLICK HERE

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