Para 2 (A) - EXCESS PAYMENT OF TAX DUE TO MISTAKE OR INADVERTENTCE - Report on - Business Processes for GST on Refund Process - [August 2015]

2 (A) EXCESS PAYMENT OF TAX DUE TO MISTAKE OR INADVERTENTCE: i) As the heading suggests, it refers to the situations where the tax payer has made excess payment of tax either by mistake or by inadvertence resulting in more payment of tax than due to the Government. Since the tax that has been paid is in excess, which was actually not required to be paid, the same should be refunded to the taxpayer. ii) Such excess payment may be on account of:- a) wrong mention of nature of tax (CGST / SGST / IGST), b) wrong mention of GSTIN, or c) wrong mention of tax amount. iii) In first two situations i.e. in case of wrong mention of nature of tax (CGST / SGST / IGST) or in case of wrong mention of GSTIN, the tax administration is required to verify the correctness of the taxpayer s claim and therefore the taxpayer may file a refund application which should be decided within a period to be prescribed by the GST Law. iv) A dealer is required to make tax payment on two accounts i.e. payment linked to a return or payment in response to a specific demand arising out of audit, etc. The IT system should be in a position to make a distinction between these two type of payment. Perhaps the payment challan may have a field to select the purpose of payment. v) The GST Law Drafting Committee / Payment Committee may decide as to whether the payment is to be made tax period wise or a system of Personal Ledger Account (PLA) is to be used. Maharashtra has suggested that Kerala model of return cum challan may also be examined by the GST Law Drafting Committee / Payment Committee. vi) In the third situation i.e. where the amount has been mentioned wrongly, the refund of excess amount of tax, at the option of the taxpayer, would either be automatically carried forward for adjustment against future tax liabilities or be refunded on submission of application (return itself can be treated as a refund application) by the taxpayer. The automatic carry forward would be allowed if the excess payment was made against a return and not against any other liability. The GST Law may provide for automatic set off if the excess payment of tax is not on account of interpretation of notifications, application of exemptions etc., i.e. the excess payment is not on account of difference of opinion between the tax administration and the taxpayer. The GST Law may also lay down the time limit within which the excess amount of tax, as reflected in the return filed by a taxpayer for that relevant period, can be re- credited suomoto and can be utilized by the taxpayer for payment of future tax liability. vii) The refund may be on account of CGST, SGST or IGST as the case may be.