Exporters can now file GST refund claim manually

Dated Mumbai, November 18, 2017

Move taken after exporters were hit by serious liquidity problem due to non-availability of online refund module.

Indore : Good news for the exporters, who were worried over getting their refund of GST due to the specific modules not being available online, as according to latest orders of the Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) exporters can now manually file claims for GST refunds before tax officers.

Due to non-availability of refund module on the Goods and Service Tax Network (GSTN) portal, GST council has decided that the applications, documents and forms pertaining to refund claims on account of zero-rated supplies shall be filed and processed manually till further orders,” said CA Navin Khandelwal while addressing a study circle meeting of Tax Practitioners’ Association here at TPA hall on Friday.

Explaining the special arrangement made by the government, Khandelwal said “Services exporters, who have paid Integrated GST (IGST) and those making zero rated supplies to Special Economic Zone (SEZ) units, as well as merchant exporters seeking claim refunds for input credit, can now approach their jurisdictional commissioner with their refund form.”

Businesses making zero-rated supplies or those who have paid IGST on exports, or want to claim input credit, would need to print out Form RFD-01A and approach the chief commissioner of central tax and commissioner of state tax for refund claim, he said, adding that the provisional refund would be sanctioned by the concerned tax officer within seven days.

The CA however clarified that “This is just a temporary arrangement until the online facility of filing claims is made operational. The move was taken just to clear the back log of refunds of exporters.”

The senior chartered accountant further threw light on the orders issued by the GST council in this regard. He informed that the last date of filing of Tran-1 Form was cut to December 27 from December 31 and also, elaborated the reduction of GST rates on some particular items.

Reminding that in October last, the CBEC had started refunds for merchandise exporters who had paid IGST and claimed refund based on shipping bill by submitting Table 6A, he said “Since then the exporter community had been worrying over not getting GST refunds due to the absence of proper online module.”

“Not getting the refunds on time was creating a serious liquidity problem to the exporters. Considering gravity of the woes, the council took the move to provide much-needed relief to the hassled exporters,” the expert CA said.

President of TPA, CA Vikram Gupte presided over the programme, while CA JP Saraf conducted the study circle, which was attended by a large number of CAs, tax practitioners and traders among others.

Industries making zero-rated supplies or those who have paid IGST on exports, or want to claim input credit, would need to fill Form RFD-01A and approach chief commissioner of central tax and commissioner of state tax for refund claim. Provisional refund would be sanctioned by tax officer concerned within seven days

Source: www.freepressjournal.in