GSTR-9 Tables 8E, 8F and 8K: The ITC That Lapses

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Table 8K is the only row in GSTR-9 that carries the word "lapse". It totals 8E + 8F + 8J — credit available but not taken, credit available but ineligible, and unclaimed import IGST. Getting the split right matters, because one of these is a genuine loss and one never was.

Where Table 8D is positive, it "may contain eligible credits that have not been availed by the registered person. The most likely reason could be the failure to take credit within the timelines specified under section 16(4)." That amount splits into 8E — ITC available but not availed and 8F — ITC available but ineligible, and "Ideally if Table 8D is positive, the sum of Table 8E and Table 8F shall be equal to Table 8D." Table 8K totals "Total ITC to be lapsed in current financial year (E + F + J)."

What 8E actually represents

8E is credit the taxpayer was entitled to and did not take — most often because the section 16(4) window closed.

That window is now 30 November of the next financial year, or the date of furnishing the annual return, whichever is earlier — amended by the Finance Act, 2022 and notified w.e.f. 01.10.2022 by Notification No. 18/2022-CT, applying from FY 2021-22. Before that, it was the September return of the following year.

So 8E is a real economic loss, and the amount in it is money that will never be recovered.

What 8F represents, and why it was added

"Table 8F has been inserted in the annual return to report that portion of input tax credit that is available on the forward charge but which is ineligible to be taken as credit due to the non-compliance of the provisions of section 16 of the CGST Act, read with rule 36 of CGST Rules."

8F is not a loss at all. It is credit that appeared in GSTR-2B — because a supplier uploaded an invoice — but which the taxpayer was never entitled to claim. Blocked credit under section 17(5), invoices without the prescribed particulars under rule 36, goods never received.

Without 8F, all of it would sit in 8E and read as credit forgone. The row exists to separate the two.

And the arithmetic check follows: if 8D is positive, then 8E + 8F should equal 8D. A residue means something in 8D has been classified as neither — which needs an explanation.

The credit that does not belong in Table 8 at all

This is the rule most often got wrong:

"ITC which is neither reflected in Form GSTR-2B nor claimed in Form GSTR-3B but taken in books of accounts would not be eligible credit at all and hence the same is not to be entered in this table."

Read that carefully. Credit sitting in the books, never in 2B, never in 3B, is not "available but not availed". It was never available — since section 16(2)(aa) makes appearance in the supplier's outward statement a condition of entitlement.

"Here, the difference between inward supplies uploaded by the supplier in Form GSTR-2B and inward supplies claimed by the registered person in Form GSTR-3B is sought to be verified." Table 8 compares two returns, not the books against a return.

Booking such credit into 8E overstates the lapsed figure and invites a question about why entitled credit was abandoned — when the correct answer is that there was no entitlement.

Table 8J and the import half

Table 8J — "ITC available but not availed on import of goods (Equal to I)" — takes its figure from Table 8I, the difference between IGST paid on imports (8G) and IGST credit availed (8H and 8H1).

And the Guide corrects the label:

"Though Table No. 8J reads as 'ITC available but not availed on import of goods', in effect, it is related to an input tax credit available on the import of goods which has lapsed since the amount entered in 8J has lapsed as per 8K. Not all goods imported like inputs or capital goods are eligible for availing ITC. Credit may not be available on the import of the goods."

So 8J does the work of both 8E and 8F on the import side — "IGST paid on imported goods, available but not availed and credit is ineligible should be entered here, though the table heading reads as 'ITC available but not availed'."

There is no separate "ineligible import credit" row. Tables 8G to 8J →

Table 8K

"The total input tax credit which shall lapse for the current financial year shall be auto populated in this table" — 8E + 8F + 8J.

It is a computed disclosure, not a charge. Nothing is paid on the strength of Table 8K; it declares an amount of credit that can no longer be taken.

But it is read. Because 8F and part of 8J were never eligible in the first place, a large 8K is not by itself evidence of anything — which is precisely why the components must be split correctly before filing rather than after a query.

Key takeaways

• Where 8D is positive, 8E + 8F should equal it.
• 8E is eligible credit not taken — usually because the section 16(4) window closed on 30 November of the next year, or on filing the annual return, whichever is earlier.
• 8F is credit in GSTR-2B that was never claimable — section 17(5) blocks, rule 36 defects, goods not received.
• 8F was inserted precisely to stop ineligible credit inflating 8E.
• Credit in the books but never in GSTR-2B or GSTR-3B does not belong in Table 8 at all — it was never available.
• Table 8 compares GSTR-2B against GSTR-3B, not books against returns.
• 8J covers both not-availed and ineligible import credit, despite its label; there is no separate row.
• 8K = 8E + 8F + 8J, an auto-populated disclosure of lapsed credit, not a payment.

Read next

• GSTR-9 Table 8D: The Negative Value, and What It Means
• GSTR-9 Tables 8G to 8J: IGST on Import of Goods
• GSTR-9 Table 8A: How GSTR-2B Replaced GSTR-2A

Disclaimer: Positions stated as on 5 September 2026, based on Form GSTR-9 and its instructions, sections 16 and 17(5) of the CGST Act, 2017, rule 36 of the CGST Rules, 2017 and Notification No. 18/2022-Central Tax, as reproduced in the ICAI Technical Guide on GST Annual Return (Form GSTR-9).