Circular No. 87/06/2019-GST

Attention is invited to sub-section (a) of section 28 of the CGST (Amendment) Act, 2018 (No. 31 of 2018) which provides that section 140(1) of the CGST Act, 2017 be amended with retrospective effect to allow transition of CENVAT credit under the existing law viz. Central Excise and Service Tax law, only in respect of “eligible duties”. In this regard, doubts have been expressed as to whether the expression “eligible duties” would include CENVAT credit of Service Tax within its scope or not.

Therefore, in exercise of powers conferred under section 168 of the Central Goods and Services Act (hereinafter referred to as “Act”), for the purposes of uniformity in the implementation of the Act, the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs hereby directs the following:

The CENVAT credit of service tax paid under section 66B of the Finance Act, 1994 was available as transitional credit under section 140(1) of the CGST Act and that legal position has not changed due to amendment of section 140(1) on account of following reasons:
i) The amendment in provisions of section 140(1) and the explanations to section 140 need to be read harmoniously such that neither any provision of

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