Paying Tax

Utilisation of input tax credit subject to certain conditions

Section 49A, CGST Act

Chapter chapter10 Text as on 2026-09-05 Source CBIC

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Amendment history

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Integrated tax credit must be fully used before central or State tax credit can be used to pay any output tax – the statutory basis for the IGST-first rule. Read with section 49B and Rule 88A, which relax the order within IGST utilisation.

What this means in practice

The parts that actually decide cases — the things a practitioner checks first.

Read with Rule 88A, which softens the sequence: IGST credit must go to IGST first, but the balance may then be applied to CGST and SGST in any order.

The exact words of the law

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Reproduced from the CBIC text. We explain it above — but you should always be able to read it yourself.

Read the full provision+

1 [ Section 49A. Utilisation of input tax credit subject to certain conditions.- Notwithstanding anything contained in section 49 , the input tax credit on account of central tax, State tax or Union territory tax shall be utilised towards payment of integrated tax, central tax, State tax or Union territory tax, as the case may be, only after the input tax credit available on account of integrated tax has first been utilised fully towards such payment.]

High Court cases on this section

Judgments in our index that cite this provision. Being listed does not make a case good law — it may have been appealed or distinguished since. Read it before relying on it.

ALLOWED High Court of Karnataka · 2025-08-14

M/S. VK BUILDING SERVICES PRIVATE LIMITED v. THE ADDITIONAL COMMISSIONER OF GST

Read the judgment PDF →

What changed, and when

The amendment trail, newest first — because the version that applies to your case depends on the period.

date not stated · Insertedbys

Inserted by s. 21 of The Central Goods and Services Tax (Amendment) Act, 2018 (No. 31 of 2018) -Brought into force w.e.f. 01 st February, 2019.

Read this with

A provision rarely works alone. These are the ones it points to.

Section 49

Where this comes from

Text reproduced from the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs, as available on 2026-09-05. The explanation and practice notes above are GSTZone’s own, written for this hub. If you spot anything out of date, tell us and we’ll fix it — this hub is checked daily against CBIC.

cgst section 49Autilisation of input tax credit subject to certain condition

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