GST Input Tax Credit on Rent Invoices from Unregistered Landlords
You cannot claim GST input tax credit for rent paid to a landlord while they were unregistered, even if they issue invoices later.
- Ruling
- ADVANCE RULING No. KER/34/2025 Dated 10.10.2025
- Dated
- 10 Oct 2025
- Authority
- Authority for Advance Ruling
This page was written by Patron Accounting’s AI from the official release and reviewed before publishing. It explains the document in plain language. It is not the document itself. Where this page and the original differ, the original governs.
The short version
- The company asked if they could claim GST credit for past rent.
- The landlord was unregistered during the period of the rent.
- The Authority ruled that credit is only allowed for the month of registration.
- Invoices issued after the legal time limit are invalid for tax credit.
In short
Opsin Healthcare Private Limited asked the Kerala Authority for Advance Ruling (AAR) if they could claim input tax credit (ITC) on rent paid to a landlord who was not registered under GST at the time. The landlord later registered and issued invoices covering the entire past period. The Authority decided that credit is only allowed for the month the landlord became registered, as the law requires a valid tax invoice from a registered supplier to claim credit.
What has changed
How it worked before
Many businesses assumed that if a landlord eventually registered for GST and issued invoices that appeared in their GSTR-2A, they could claim the input tax credit for the entire period.
What has changed
The ruling clarifies that you cannot claim input tax credit for periods when your supplier was not registered. Even if the invoice shows up in your GSTR-2A, it does not make the credit legal if the supplier was unregistered at the time the service was provided. In practice, this means you must ensure your suppliers are registered at the time of service to claim credit.
Who this affects
Businesses that rent property from landlords who were previously unregistered and later obtained GST registration.
An example
Imagine a software firm, TechSolutions, rents an office from a landlord who registers for GST in December. The landlord issues a single invoice in January covering the previous six months of rent. Based on this ruling, TechSolutions can only claim input tax credit for the rent pertaining to December. They cannot claim credit for the five months prior when the landlord was unregistered.
What you should do
Review your rent agreements and invoices to ensure you only claim credit for periods where the landlord held a valid GST registration. Remember that an advance ruling only applies to the specific business that asked for it; it is not a general law that protects your specific tax filings. If you have claimed such credit, consult your tax advisor to assess your risk of a future audit.
If you do nothing
If you claim credit for periods when your supplier was unregistered, a tax officer may disallow the credit during an audit. You would then be required to pay back the tax amount plus interest and potential penalties. Relying on this ruling as a blanket protection for your own business is risky, as your local tax officer may take a different view of your specific facts.
The terms explained
- Input Tax Credit
- The tax a business pays on its purchases that it can use to reduce the tax it owes on its own sales.
- GSTR-2A
- An automated statement that shows the invoices your suppliers have uploaded to the GST portal.
- Statutory bar
- A legal restriction that prevents a specific action, such as claiming a tax credit, because the law does not allow it.
The ruling in detail
Authority for Advance Ruling
Opsin Healthcare Private Limited
ADVANCE RULING No. KER/34/2025 Dated 10.10.2025 · Keralam
Questions before the authority
- Availment of input tax credit against the invoices issued by the landlord before the period of getting GST Registration to landlord ie, whether the input tax credit is available or not to the assessee?
- Whether there is further audit query if the ITC is availed by the assessee?
Facts
The applicant operates hospitals in rented premises where the landlord was unregistered until June 2022. Upon obtaining GST registration, the landlord issued two tax invoices on 30 June 2022 covering the period from April 2021 to June 2022. These invoices were marked as B2C but appeared in the applicant's GSTR-2A as B2B supplies.
Ruling
| Question | What the authority ruled |
|---|---|
| ITC on invoices issued before landlord's registration | Ineligible for period prior to June 2022; eligible for June 2022 Subject to time-limit under Section 16(4) of the CGST Act |
| Possibility of future audit query | Outside the purview of Advance Ruling Not covered under Section 97(2) of the CGST Act |
The Authority ruled that the applicant is eligible for Input Tax Credit only for the rent pertaining to June 2022, provided it was availed within the statutory time limit. ITC for the period prior to June 2022 is inadmissible because the landlord was unregistered and the invoices were issued beyond the prescribed time limit. The question regarding future audit queries was held to be outside the scope of an advance ruling.
Reasoning
The Authority reasoned that under Section 16(2)(a) of the CGST Act, a recipient is only entitled to ITC if they possess a valid tax invoice issued by a registered supplier. Since the landlord was unregistered during the period prior to June 2022, the invoices issued for that period are not valid for ITC. Furthermore, the invoices were issued beyond the thirty-day period prescribed under Rule 47 of the CGST Rules. The Authority clarified that the reflection of an invoice in GSTR-2A does not override the **statutory bar** on availing ITC when the supplier was unregistered or the invoice was not issued in accordance with the Act.
Provisions relied on
- Section 16(2)(a) of the CGST Act, 2017
- Section 16(4) of the CGST Act, 2017
- Section 31 of the CGST Act, 2017
- Section 97(2) of the CGST Act, 2017
- Rule 36 of the CGST Rules, 2017
- Rule 47 of the CGST Rules, 2017
For the practitioner
This ruling confirms that **retrospective invoices** issued by a landlord after obtaining GST registration cannot be used to claim ITC for periods when the landlord was unregistered. It serves as a reminder that GSTR-2A auto-population does not validate ITC if substantive conditions of the Act are not met. It does not provide protection against future departmental audits, as the Authority explicitly declined to rule on that matter.
Source
This is a summary prepared from the published order, which is a scanned document. It is a reading aid and not the authority: where the two differ, the order governs. Verify every provision against the original before relying on it.
Original order: https://www.gstcouncil.gov.in/sites/default/files/AAR/5-opsin_healthcare_private_limited.pdf
Legibility of the scan, as read: high.
Prepared 15-10-2026.
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