Availing ITC as per Section 16 (2) (aa)

Businesses must submit claims for Input Tax Credit (ITC) that only shows in GSTR-2B starting on January 1st, 2022. As a result, the new clause (aa) under Section 16(2) becomes effective, and Rule 36(4) of the CGST Rules is rendered useless.

Section 16 (2) (aa)

The CBIC has announced that the new condition in clause (aa) of Section 16(2) of the CGST Act would go into effect on January 1, 2022. On December 21, 2021, it published Central Tax Notification Number 39/2021 to implement Section 109 of the Finance Act 2021, which contained this modification.

Before claiming ITC in their GSTR-3B, receivers had to meet requirements in Section 16(2) of the CGST Act. These included having a GST invoice, receiving the goods or services, paying the applicable tax to the government, and reporting the GST invoice in GSTR-3B.

You can now obtain ITC if your vendor discloses that invoice or debit note in their associated GSTR-1 or Invoice Furnishing Facility (IFF), which is a recently introduced criterion. Finally, it must be located in your returns that Section 38 automatically generates, like GSTR-2B. Due to its static nature and regular availability in line with GSTR-3B, it may be used as a return in place of GSTR-2A.

What would happen if the provisional ITC is eliminated, and how should businesses handle ITC?

The elimination of this advantage will result in more obligations for the enterprises. They will also encounter brand-new difficulties that can only be solved through technological assistance.

If your company makes any more ITC claims or fails to follow this new requirement, you could face fines or have your GSTIN suspended. Businesses may experience subpar ITC claims if they wait too long to take action, which would hurt their profitability and, in turn, their working capital.

Even though many firms understand the value of periodic reconciliation, they rely on the additional ITC of 5% for each tax period. Businesses only occasionally perform reconciliations right before a return's due date. However, if you continue in this manner starting on January 1, 2022, firms will have no time for vendor communication and follow-ups for missing invoices. 

ITC reconciliations should now be dynamic, real-time, and performed for each payment cycle, preferably once a week or more frequently. The manual way is difficult, taxing, and time-consuming, as you'll notice.

Businesses typically communicate with their vendors every so often or once a quarter. It occurs during phone calls, text messages, and emails. But tracking becomes challenging because these are not connected to the ERP. Future enterprises must continuously remind non-compliant vendors to upload invoices by following up with them in real-time.

To drive out non-compliant vendors once or twice a year, it may be necessary to postpone payments of the outstanding invoices or GST. Companies did not, however, use tactics for quick posting bills or vendor rates. When an invoice does not show in GSTR-2B by the 14th of the month following the quarter, payment for an uploaded invoice should always be marked as "Hold GST until matched."

Businesses will now be required to retain payments at the invoice level more frequently, especially for the GST amount, to punish defaulting vendors.