Evidence must for blocking input tax credit

Blocking should be on the basis of 'evidence' and not out of 'suspicion', says CBIC in its guidelines for GST officials

AFTER apprehension from the business group over blocking of their input tax credit, the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) has come out with detailed guidelines on blocking of tax credit by GST field officers, saying that such blocking should be on the basis of 'evidence' and not out of 'suspicion'.

"It is reiterated that the power of disallowing debit of amount from electronic credit ledger must not be exercised in a mechanical manner and careful examination of all the facts of the case is important to determine cases(s) fit for exercising power under rules 86A," a guideline issued by CBIC said.

The guideline dated November 2 was issued after several businesses had flagged the concern to the ministries over harassment by tax officials.

Till early last month, taxmen had blocked ₹14,000 crore worth of input tax credit (ITC) of 66,000 businesses under this rule and many more were issued notices. Businesses requested that this decision to block should not be done arbitrarily.