GST Refunds: Q & Ans

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Q1. What are the cases in which refund will be sanctioned to the claimant?
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Ans: Refund will be sanctioned in following cases:
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• Refund of excess balance in Electronic Cash Ledger.
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• Refund of tax paid on zero rated supply of goods or services of both.
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• Refund of tax on inputs/input services used in making zero rated supply.
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• Refund on account of ITC accumulated due to Inverted Tax Structure.
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• Refund of tax paid on Deemed Exports.
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• Finalisation of provisional assessment.
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• On account of appeal/any other adjudication order.
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• Refund for tax paid on purchase made by UN bodies and other Notified Agencies.
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• Tax Refund for International Tourists.
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Q.2 Have the procedure for claiming refund been simplied in GST regime?
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Ans: Yes. The procedures relating to export have been simplified in GST Regime. The process for the same is as follows:
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• Application for refund shall be filed for a tax period in FORM GST RFD-01A online on the common portal.
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• Valid return in FORM GSTR-3B and GSTR-1 has to be filed for the tax period for which refund application has been filed.
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• Registered person applying for refund must give an undertaking to the effect that the amount of refund sanctioned would be paid back to the Government with interest in case it is found subsequently that the requirements have not been complied with in respect of the amount refunded.
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• On filing of refund application, an Acknowledgement Reference Number shall be generated.
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• The FORM GST RFD-01A along with the ARN and other necessary documents needs to be submitted manually in the office of the jurisdictional proper officer.
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Q.3 Whether there is any time limit to file refund claim?
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Ans: Generally, Yes. The refund claim has to be filed within two years from the relevant date. However, no time limit where tax/interest/ or any other amount has been paid under protest.
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Q.4 Whether there is any provision for condonation of delay in filing refund claim beyond two years from the relevant date?
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Ans: No, there is no provision to condone the delay and the refund claim will be rejected without getting any merits of the refund claim.
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Q.5 How soon will refund in respect of export of goods/services be santioned?
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Ans: The refundable amount shall be sanctioned within 60 days from the date of receipt of application complete in all respects.
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However, as a measure of facilitation to exporters, 90% of the amount excluding the amount of input tax credit provisionally accepted will be refunded within seven days from the date of acknowledgement in Form GST RFD-04.Provisional refund shall be calculated taking into account the total Input Tax Credit, without making any reduction of credit being provisionally accepted.
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Q.6 Can refund of wrong payment of tax be granted?
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Ans: Yes, a person may be granted refund of taxes which have been wrongly paid and credited to the electronic cash ledger. A taxable person may pay integrated tax instead of central tax/state tax because of incorrect application of the place of supply provisions. In such case, the taxable person may file an application for refund of excess cash credited in the electronic cash ledger.
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Q.7 Can refund of unutilized ITC be allowed as refund to exporters?
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Ans: Yes, refund of any unutilised input tax credit of inputs and input services will be allowed except where
• the goods exported out of India are subjected to export duty; or
• the exporter claims drawback of CGST or refund of IGST paid on such export.
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Q.8 Whether refund:can be granted to Casual/Non–Resident Taxable Persons?
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Ans: Casual/Non – resident taxable person has to pay tax in advance at the time of registration. Refund may be granted to such persons at the end of the registration
period because the tax paid in advance may be more than the actual tax liability on the supplies made by them during the period of validity of registration period.
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Q.9 Will the principle of unjust enrichment shall be applicable for all sorts of refund?
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Ans: The principle of unjust enrichment would be applicable in all cases of refund except in the following cases:–
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• Refund of tax paid on zero-rated supplies of goods or services or both or on inputs or input services used in making such zero-rated supplies.
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• Unutilized input tax credit in respect of (a) zero rated supplies made without payment of tax or, (b) where the credit has accumulated on account of rate of tax on inputs being higher than the rate of tax on output supplies.
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• Refund of tax paid on a supply which is not provided, either wholly or partially, and for which invoice has not been issued.
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• Refund of tax where tax wrongfully collected and paid to Central Government or State Government.
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• If the incidence of tax or interest paid has not been passed on to any other person.
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• Such other class of persons who has borne the incidence of tax as the Government may notify.
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REGARDS
ACA SOURAV BAGARIA