The Goods and Services Tax Network (GSTN) has issued an important advisory regarding access to older tax return data. According to the announcement, starting from October 1, 2024, taxpayers will no longer be able to view or retrieve GST return data that is older than seven years on the GST portal. This specifically affects data from before September 2017, which will be archived and permanently removed from the portal after this date.

For taxpayers who may need to refer to older GST return filings, it is crucial to save or download any necessary documents or data before the deadline of September 30, 2024. Once the data is archived, it will not be available online for reference or use, so it is important to act before the given date to avoid any issues with record-keeping or compliance requirements in the future. 

GSTN has explained that from now on, they will remove old GST return data every month. For example, on October 1, 2024, they will remove the data for September 2017, and this will continue each month for older data. 

This process started in August 2024 because the first GST returns were filed in July 2017, which completed seven years. So, on August 1, 2024, GST data for July 2017 was removed, and on September 1, 2024, the data for August 2017 was taken down.

Under GST, there are two types of notices that the government can send to taxpayers

1. Section 73– For cases where ‘no fraud’ is involved.
2. Section 74 – For cases where ‘fraud’ is involved.

Section 73 notices can be issued within 3 years from the date the annual return is filed.

Section 74 notices can be issued within 5 years from the same date.

Since the annual return is usually filed in December of the following year, the government has up to 5 years and 9 months to issue these notices. After this time, notices cannot be issued anymore.

Starting from the financial year 2024-25, the rules will change. The government will have to issue notices within 42 months (3.5 years) from the date the annual return is filed.