In 2024, we published Miscellaneous Taxation Ruling MT 2024/1 Miscellaneous tax: time limits for claiming an input tax or fuel tax credit. It details how GST credits and fuel tax credits will expire if not claimed within the 4-year credit time limit. This is generally 4 years from the due date of the original BAS in which you could have claimed them.
Lodging an amendment request or voluntary disclosure doesn’t preserve your credit entitlements. We need to process your amendment and include it in your assessment within the 4-year credit time limit, otherwise the credits expire.
Once credits expire, we have no discretion or ability to amend your assessment to include those credits.
When claiming credits, you should:
- have good governance frameworks and processes in place to regularly review the correctness of your reporting – this should reduce the need to address mistakes in past periods near to the 4-year credit time limit. For Top 100 large corporates, we expect you to make disclosures to us in real-time, including of errors on the BAS
- ensure credits are correctly calculated and keep accurate records to support your claims – penalties may apply if you claim credits you’re not entitled to
- actively manage the risks of expiry of your credits if you identify a mistake by considering the options available to you
- expect additional scrutiny if you seek to change long-standing positions to uplift GST recovery, for instance where an apportionment methodology is changed for periods to increase the rates claimed – this will likely take us longer to review and we may need further information from you, so you should factor this into your timeframes.
Options available to you
If you’re under current compliance or assurance activity, you should discuss the options available to preserve credit entitlements with your case team as early as possible. It takes time to consider these requests, and we may require supporting evidence.
If credits are near expiry, instead of writing to request an amendment, you should consider:
- claiming the credits in your next BAS that’s still within the 4-year credit time limit – these amounts may be subject to future review
- requesting the amendment by lodging a revised BAS, an RBAS, for the tax period to which the credits are attributable via Online Services. RBAS requests are generally processed faster than amendment requests in other forms
- lodging a valid objection against your assessment for the period to which the GST credits are attributable before the end of the 4-year credit time limit. This should be a last resort and is only appropriate in certain circumstances.
Our web content about the Time limit on GST credits explains these options in detail.
If you’ve already lodged an amendment request, you should actively monitor it. If credits are within a month of expiring and it hasn’t been processed, you should contact us to follow up at 13 28 66 (within Australia). Large business taxpayers can also use the available services for Australia's largest taxpayers to follow up on the progress.
Differences between the 4-year credit time limit and the period of review
The 4-year credit time limit is different to the period of review. The period of review is the period we can amend your assessment, generally 4 years from when you lodge your BAS. We can, however, extend the period of review by agreement.
The 4-year credit time limit for GST credits and fuel tax credits applies more strictly. If credits have expired, we’re unable to amend assessments to include these credits, even if the period of review is still open. This means there may be situations where we amend for overpaid or underpaid GST or overclaimed credits, but additional credits can’t be included in an amended assessment. So, it’s important to make sure you claim any credit entitlements within the 4-year credit time limit.
You can find more information on the application of the 4-year credit time limit in MT 2024/1.
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