Introduction
It is imperative to make the process of refund much smoother under GST. A delay in refund would cause problem for the exporters/manufacturer’s in maintaining the working capital and cash flow. Currently there is delay in months in providing the refund to the exporters/manufacturers. There should be strict regulation in the processing of refund under GST.
Processing of the refund applications under GST is expected to be a faster and smoother process. Since all the data is going to be uploaded electronically, the verification and scrutinization of refund applications would be faster.
Where you get Refund under GST
- Excess payment of tax due to mistake or inadvertence.
- Export (including deemed export) of goods / services under claim of rebate or Refund of accumulated input credit of duty / tax when goods / services are exported.
- Finalization of provisional assessment.
- Refund of Pre – deposit for filing appeal including refund arising in pursuance of an appellate authority’s order (when the appeal is decided in favour of the appellant).
- Payment of duty / tax during investigation but no/ less liability arises at the time of finalization of investigation / adjudication.
- Refund of tax payment on purchases made by Embassies or UN bodies.
- Credit accumulation due to output being tax exempt or nil-rated.
- Credit accumulation due to inverted duty structure i.e. due to tax rate differential between output and inputs.
- Year-end or volume based incentives provided by the supplier through credit notes.
- Tax Refund for International Tourists.
Refund Process under GST
- Following are the procedures for processing of refund claimed-:
- Application form for claiming refund can be filed through the GSTN portal.
- An acknowledgement number would be shared with applicant via sms or email, once the application is filed electronically.
- Adjustment would be made to return and cash ledger and reduce the “carry-forward input tax credit” automatically.
- Refund application and documents submitted shall be scrutinized within a period of 30 days of filing the refund application.
- Concept of “unjust enrichment” would be examined for reach refund application. If it does not qualify, then the refund would be transferred to CWF (consumer welfare fund).
- If refund claimed exceeds the predetermined amount of refund then it will go through pre-audit process for sanctioning the refund.
- Refund will be credited electronically to the account of applicant via ECS, RTGS or NEFT.
- Application for refund can be made at end of each quarter.
- No refund shall be provided for an amount of less than Rs 1000.