CBIC to observe Third Refund Fortnight to clear pending refunds regarding IGST, ITC and any other refunds

Circular No. ES/125/2018-19 July 18, 2018

To: Members of the Council

Sub:- CBIC to observe Third Refund Fortnight to clear pending refunds regarding IGST, ITC and any other refunds

Dear Member,

We are glad to inform you that the Ministry of Finance has issued a Press Release on 16^th July, 2018 announcing a Third Refund Fortnight to clear pending refunds of IGST on Exports, Input Tax Credit and any other refunds.

As you are aware, Refunds of GST has been a concern for the Government and Trade for the past several months. In this regard, the CBIC had observed two special drives cum refund fortnights in the Month of March, 2018 (15th to 31st March, 2018) and June, 2018 (31st May to 16th June, 2018) respectively. These refund fortnights had provided relief to the Members of Trade.

In the 1^st refund fortnight, Rs. 4265 Crore IGST refunds and Rs. 1136 Crore ITC refunds were sanctioned by field formations of CBIC.
Similarly, during the 2^ndrefund fortnight, Rs. 6087 Crore IGST refunds and Rs. 1548 Crore ITC refunds were sanctioned by CBIC.

In case of IGST refunds for goods exported out of India, the percentage of amount of refund claims disposed by CBIC was more than 90%.

However, in order to liquidate pendency further, and to handhold/guide the trade for applying for the refund claims in a proper manner, it has been decided to observe another refund fortnight from 16^th July, 2018 to 30^th July, 2018. Dedicated refund cells and helpdesks would be provided for exporters to get their refund claims processed, in each Commissionerate.

The exporters and export organizations are requested to take benefit of this opportunity to get their pending refund claims processed. The facility to view reasons for pending IGST refunds have been provided on ICEGATE.

As the IGST refund procedure is designed for seamless electronic processing; sufficient and correct details are required to be filed by the exporter.

Instructions to be followed for claiming refunds of IGST and ITC and any other refunds–

IGST refunds on exports

CBIC has issued Circular Nos.42/2017-Customs, 5/2018-Customs, 6/2018-Customs, 8/2018-Customs, 12/2018-Customs and 15/2018-Customs to resolve issues pertaining to sanction of refunds. Exporters whose refunds are still held up, are advised to approach refund cells in the Commissionerates for resolution.
Please check the status of your refund on the ICEGATE website and visit the concerned Customs House for rectification of error, if any.
Please logon to https://www.icegate.gov.in/iceLogin/loginAction and register if not already done, to know the status of your shipping bill.

Input Tax Credit Refunds & other refunds

(Please act as per the following steps while applying for refund in Form GST RFD-01A)

File Form GST RFD-01A on the common portal www.gst.gov.in.
Take a printout of the filled-in form and submit it before the jurisdictional tax officer along with all supporting documents.
The refund claim needs to be filed with the jurisdictional tax authority to which the taxpayer has been assigned as per the administrative order issued by the Chief Commissioner of Central Tax and the Commissioner of State Tax.
The refund claim needs to be filed only with one tax authority. No need to file separately with Centre and State for refund of CGST and SGST respectively!
It is not enough to file Form GST RFD-01A on the common portal. Your refund will not be processed until you submit a printout of the form to the jurisdictional tax office.

We request all concerned members to follow the above instructions carefully and avail the benefit of this Special Refund Fortnight for getting your IGST, ITC and any other refund claims settled.

We also request you to furnish the details of those refund claims which have been settled earlier and during this fortnight to the Council at es@srtepc.in.

Thanking you,

Yours faithfully,

S.BALARAJU
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR