Denial of ITC for Year-End Transactions: Kerala High Court Reiterates Substance over Form

This note by J the app examines the decision of the High Court of Kerala in WP(C) No. 34716 of 2025, decided on 9 January 2026, which addresses the denial of input tax credit on account of an inter-period mismatch (March and the suceeding month April) between invoicing and receipt of goods. The case arose from a routine year-end transaction where invoices were raised in March but goods were received in April, leading to a reconciliation issue rather than any allegation of tax evasion.