Methods, systems, and devices for wireless communications are described. A transmitting device may transmit an expiration indication to a receiving device as part of a scheduling message for a transport block. The expiration indication may provide information related to an expiration time for the transport block. If the expiration time is reached prior to successful reception by a receiving device, the receiving device may assume that the transport block has expired and may refrain from transmitting a retransmission grant, or may empty a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARM) buffer associated with the transport block. If the transmitting device fails to successfully receive an indication from the receiving device of a successful reception of the transport block prior to the expiration period, the transmitting device may also assume that the transport block has expired.