GST ITC not allowed for pre-registration period Invoices: AAR

The applicant, Opsin Healthcare Pvt. Ltd., runs hospitals at Pandalam and Mavelikkara. The Mavelikkara unit functions in rented premises, and the landlord was unregistered under GST until June 15, 2022. During this period, GST was not charged on the rent. After obtaining the GST registration on June 15, 2022, the landlord issued two tax invoices, one for the rent from April 2021 to March 2022, and the other one for the rent from April 2022 to June 2022. Both invoices were marked as B2C and did not mention the applicant’s GSTIN, but they appeared as B2B supplies in the applicant’s GSTR-2A.

The applicant sought an advance ruling before the Kerala Authority for Advance Ruling (AAR), asking the following questions:

1. Availment of input tax credit against the invoices issued by the landlord before the period of getting GST Registration landlord, i.e., whether the input tax credit is available or not to the assesee?

2. Whether there is further audit query if the ITC is availed by the assessee?

As per the Kerala AAR, the applicant is eligible to claim the input tax credit (ITC) on the invoices for the month of June 2022, only if the ITC is availed by November 30, 2023. ITC cannot be claimed for invoices issued before June 2022.