The Relevant Date: Eleven Starting Points for Two Years

Relevant Date explained: this guide covers what it means, who it applies to, the step-by-step process, documents required, fees, due dates and penalties in India — so you can stay compliant with confidence and avoid costly mistakes.

Section 54(1) gives two years. The Explanation gives eleven different events from which those two years run, and they are not interchangeable.

"'Relevant date' means" — and then eleven clauses, each tied to a category of refund. Export of goods by sea or air: the date the ship or aircraft leaves India. By land: the date the goods pass the frontier. By post: the date of despatch. Export of services: the date of receipt of convertible foreign exchange, or the date of issue of invoice where payment was received in advance. Unutilised input tax credit: the due date for furnishing the return under s.39 for the period in which the claim arises. Tax paid provisionally: the date of adjustment after final assessment. Any other case: the date of payment of tax.

The eleven

(a) Goods exported out of India, refund of tax paid on the goods or on inputs or input services used in them:

(i) by sea or air — the date on which the ship or aircraft leaves India; (ii) by land — the date on which the goods pass the frontier; (iii) by post — the date of despatch of goods by the Post Office concerned to a place outside India.

(b) Deemed exports — the date on which the return relating to such deemed exports is furnished.

(c) Services exported out of India, refund of tax paid on the services or on inputs or input services used in them:

(i) where the supply of services had been completed prior to the receipt of such payment — the date of receipt of payment in convertible foreign exchange, or in Indian rupees wherever permitted by the RBI; (ii) where payment for the services had been received in advance prior to the date of issue of the invoice — the date of issue of invoice.

(d) Where the tax becomes refundable as a consequence of judgment, decree, order or direction of the Appellate Authority, Appellate Tribunal or any court — the date of communication of such judgment, decree, order or direction.

(e) Refund of unutilised input tax credit under s.54(3) — the due date for furnishing of return under s.39 for the period in which such claim for refund arises.

(f) Where tax is paid provisionally under the Act or the rules — the date of adjustment of tax after the final assessment thereof.

(g) In the case of a person, other than the supplier — the date of receipt of goods or services or both by such person.

(h) In any other case — the date of payment of tax.

The ones that cause the most trouble

(e) Unutilised credit — the return due date, not the invoice date.

For an exporter under a LUT or a business with inverted duty, the two years run from the due date of the s.39 return for the period in which the claim arises — that is, the period whose credit is being claimed.

So for March 2025, the return due date is 20 April 2025, and the claim must be filed by 20 April 2027.

Two consequences:

• the clock runs period by period, so a business that lets claims accumulate loses the oldest ones first;
• it does not run from the invoice date, so an old invoice availed in a later period gets the later period's clock.

(a)(i) Export by sea or air — the date the vessel or aircraft leaves India.

Not the invoice date, not the shipping bill date, not the let-export date. The date of departure, which appears on the EGM.

(c)(i) Export of services — the date of receipt of foreign exchange.

So an exporter of services whose payment is delayed has a later relevant date, and correspondingly more time. The realisation evidence — the FIRC or eBRC — is therefore both the refund evidence and the limitation evidence.

(d) Refund consequent on an order — the date of communication.

Not the date of the order, and not the date it attained finality. Communication is the trigger, which is why the date of receipt of the order should be recorded.

The section 54(2) exception

UN bodies, embassies and notified agencies are outside the s.54(1) clock. Section 54(2) gives them two years from the last day of the quarter in which the supply was received — a quarter-end reference, not an event-based one. Unique Identity Number →

Exclusions from the two years

Rule 90(3) proviso — the period from filing the original refund application in RFD-01 to communication of deficiencies in RFD-03 is excluded, for a fresh claim filed after rectification. Rules 90 and 92 →

Section 54(1) itself carries no other exclusion. Notifications issued under s.168A during the pandemic extended limitation for specified periods, and any such extension must be checked for a claim spanning those dates.

Key takeaways

• Two years from the relevant date, with eleven category-specific starting points.
• Unutilised credit: the due date of the s.39 return for the period the claim arises — so claims must be filed period by period.
• Export of goods by sea or air: the date the vessel or aircraft leaves India.
• Export of services: the date of receipt of foreign exchange, or the invoice date where payment preceded it.
• Refund on an order: the date of communication of the order.
• UN bodies and embassies: two years from the last day of the quarter of receipt.

Read next

• GST Refund Time Limit: Two Years and the Relevant Date
• Rules 90 and 92: Acknowledgement, Deficiency and Sanction
• Section 56: Interest on Delayed Refunds
• Rule 89(4): The Zero-Rated Refund Formula

Disclaimer: Positions stated as on 5 September 2026, based on the CGST Act as amended to 31 March 2026 (ICAI Bare Law, 12th edition) and the ICAI Handbook on Refunds under GST (January 2026).