The Synthetic & Rayon Textiles Export Promotion Council

Manual Filing of FORM GST RFD- 01A and processing of refund claims in respect of zero-rated supplies under GST

Circular No.ES/232/2017-18                                                     November 21, 2017                              

URGENT & IMPORTANT

To: Members of the Council

Sub:  Manual Filing of FORM GST RFD- 01A and processing of refund claims in respect of zero-rated supplies under GST

Dear Member,

As you are aware, exporters had been facing working capital issues due to delayed refunds of integrated GST (IGST). This delay had adversely affected the export activities.

In this connection, the Council had represented this matter at various fora for remedial action.

I am glad to inform you that exporters can now manually file claims for GST refunds before tax officers owing to the specific modules not being available online, as per latest orders of the Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) vide Circular No. 17/17/2017-GST dated 15th November, 2017.

In this regard, we are pleased to inform you that CBEC had issued Central Tax Notification No. 55/2017-Central Tax ,dt. 15-11-2017 wherein refund application can be filed Manually using “FORM-GST-RFD-01 A” whereas while processing the same the concerned officer will issue the refund order in “FORM-GST-RFD-01 B”.

It may be informed that due to the non-availability of the refund module on the common portal, it has been decided by the competent authority, that the applications/documents/forms pertaining to refund claims on account of zero-rated supplies shall be filed and processed manually till further orders.

You may be aware that a registered person may make zero-rated supplies of goods or services or both on payment of integrated tax and claim refund of the tax so paid, or make zero-rated supplies of goods or services or both under bond or Letter of Undertaking without payment of integrated tax and claim refund of unutilized input tax credit in relation to such zero rated supplies.

For sake of clarity and uniformity, the entire process of filing and processing of refunds manually is given in the summary is stated below:

  • Filing of Refund Claims:

Sl No.

Category of Refund

Process of Filing

1

Refund of IGST paid on export of goods

No separate application is required as shipping bill itself will be treated as application for refund.

2

Refund of IGST paid on export of services / zero rated supplies to SEZ units or SEZ developers

Printout of FORM GST RFD- 01A needs to be filed manually with the jurisdictional GST officer (only at one place – Centre or State) along with relevant documentary evidences, wherever applicable.

3

Refund of unutilized input tax credit due to the accumulation of credit of tax paid on inputs or input services used in making zero-rated supplies of goods or services or both

FORM GST RFD-01A needs to be filed on the common portal. The amount of credit claimed as refund would be debited in the electronic credit ledger and proof of debit needs to be generated on the common portal. Printout of the FORM GST RFD- 01A needs to be submitted before the jurisdictional GST officer along with necessary documentary evidences, wherever applicable.

Members please make a note of the following –

  • The registered person needs to file the refund claim with the jurisdictional tax authority to which the taxpayer has been assigned as per the administrative order issued in this regard by the Chief Commissioner of Central Tax and the Commissioner of State Tax.
  • In case such an order has not been issued in the State, the registered person is at liberty to apply for refund before the Central Tax Authority or State Tax Authority till the administrative mechanism for assigning of taxpayers to respective authority is implemented.

Members are requested to make a note of the above and submit claims accordingly.

Thanking you,

S. BALARAJU
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR