An official order from CBIC said that taxpayers can file fresh forms or revised earlier forms for the GST transitional credit on the common portal. Taxpayers will be allowed to download previous copy of transitional forms.

Taxpayers are required to submit self-certified copy of forms within a week of filing the same on the portal. No revision will be allowed post filing of the forms, said the CBIC order.

Tax officers will verify the claims and will pass an order after which credit will be provided in the electronic credit ledger. This is a departure from the earlier procedure where credit used to first transition to electronic credit ledger on self-assessment and later an audit was undertaken.

Where credit was disallowed in the past in transitional form audit, then such taxpayer need not file fresh forms and they should prefer an appeal against such order, said CBIC.

Experts said that the guidelines would provide clarity to the industry regarding procedures to be followed and declarations to be provided.

"It has been clarified that if any amount of credit has been disputed by the department, then same would be concluded as per the hierarchy of Judicial fora. Given that the guidelines clarify that it is the last opportunity to avail of transitional credit, the industry should be very cautious while filing and submitting the said form. It is important to note that the transitional credit will only be allowed post verification of claim by the department," explained Saurabh Agarwal, Tax Partner, EY.

Abhishek Jain, partner, Indirect Tax at KPMG in India said that the Supreme Court had extended the deadline to open the portal for filing forms Tran 1 and Tran 2 to early October. In light of the approaching timeline, CBIC issued guidelines to ensure smooth filing of the forms along with the requisite guidelines that are required to be accompanied with the forms. "Businesses should take note of this and in case of any additional clarification or difficulty approach the Board in timely manner," said Jain.