Refund of IGST - Export of goods or services or both after payment of IGST [Rule 96 of CGST Rules] - GST Ready Reckoner - GST

Refund of IGST - Export of goods services or both, after payment of IGST (i) Export of goods or services or both after payment of GST and claim refund of GST [read with rule 96 read with rule 89 , rule 96B of CGST Rules] Shipping bill - The shipping bill filed by an exporter of goods shall be deemed to be an application for refund of integrated tax paid on the goods exported out of India and such application shall be deemed to have been filed only when :- The person in charge of the conveyance carrying the export goods duly files any following documents covering the number and the date of shipping bills or bills of export a departure manifest or an export manifest or an export report The applicant has furnished a valid return in FORM GSTR-3B, if there is any mismatch between the data furnished by the exporter of goods in Shipping Bill and those furnished in statement of outward supplies in FORM GSTR-1 as amended in FORM GSTR-1A (Inserted vide NN. 12/2024 date 10/07/2024) if any, such application for refund of integrated tax paid on the goods exported out of India shall be deemed to have been filed on such date when such mismatch in respect of the said shipping bill is rectified by the exporter; Mandatory Aadhaar authentication - The applicant has undergone Aadhaar authentication in the manner provided in rule 10B of CGST Rules . The exporter of goods may file an application electronically in FORM GST RFD-01 through the common portal for refund of additional integrated tax paid on account of upward revision in price of goods subsequent to export of such goods , and on which the amount of integrated tax paid at the time of export of such goods has already been refunded in accordance with provisions of rule 96(3), and such application shall be dealt with in accordance with the provisions of rule 89. [Rule 96(1) of CGST Rules] Transmission of export invoice to customs portal - The details of the relevant export invoices in respect of export of goods contained in FORM GSTR-1 as amended in FORM GSTR-1A if any (Inserted vide NN. 12/2024 date 10/07/2024) , shall be transmitted electronically by the common portal to the system designated by the Customs and the said system shall electronically transmit to the common portal, a confirmation that the goods covered by the said invoices have been exported out of India. [Rule 96(2) of CGST Rules] Processing of refund claim - Upon the receipt of the information regarding the furnishing of a valid return in FORM GSTR-3B from the common portal, the system designated by the Customs or the proper officer of Customs, as the case may be, shall process the claim of refund in respect of export of goods and an amount equal to the integrated tax paid in respect of each shipping bill or bill of export shall be electronically credited to the bank account of the applicant mentioned in his registration particulars and as intimated to the Customs authorities. [Rule 96(3) of CGST Rules] The claim for refund shall be withheld where,- a request has been received from the jurisdictional Commissioner of central tax, State tax or Union territory tax to withhold the payment of refund due to the person claiming refund in accordance with the provisions of sub-section (10) or sub-section (11) of section 54; or the proper officer of Customs determines that the goods were exported in violation of the provisions of the Customs Act, 1962; or. the Commissioner in the Board or an officer authorised by the Board, on the basis of data analysis and risk parameters, is of the opinion that verification of credentials of the exporter, including the availment of ITC by the exporter, is considered essential before grant of refund, in order to safeguard the interest of revenue. [Rule 96(4) of CGST Rules] Where refund is withheld in accordance with the provisions of clause (a) or clause (c) rule 96(4) of CGST Rule, such claim shall be transmitted to the proper officer of Central tax, State tax or Union territory tax, as the case may be, electronically through the common portal in a system generated FORM GST RFD-01 and the intimation of such transmission shall also be sent to the exporter electronically through the common portal, and notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained in any other rule, the said system generated form shall be deemed to be the application for refund in such cases and shall be deemed to have been filed on the date of such transmission. [Rule 96(5A) of CGST Rules] Where refund is withheld in accordance with the provisions of clause (b) of rule 96(4) of CGST Rule and the proper officer of the Customs passes an order that the goods have been exported in violation of the provisions of the Customs Act,1962 then, such claim shall be transmitted to the proper officer of CGST, SGST or UTGST, as the case may be, electronically through the common portal in a system generated FORM GST RFD-01 and the intimation of such transmission shall also be sent to the exporter electronically through the common portal, and notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained in any other rule, the said system generated form shall be deemed to be the application for refund in such cases and shall be deemed to have been filed on the date of such transmission. [Rule 96(5B) of CGST Rules] The application for refund in FORM GST RFD-01 transmitted electronically through the common portal in terms of sub-rules (5A) and (5B) of rule 96 of CGST Rule, shall be dealt in accordance with the provisions of rule 89 of CGST Rules. [Rule 96(5C) of CGST Rules] Refund to Bhutan Government - The Central Government may pay refund of the integrated tax to the Government of Bhutan on the exports to Bhutan for such class of goods as may be notified in this behalf and where such refund is paid to the Government of Bhutan, the exporter shall not be paid any refund of the integrated tax. [Rule 96(9) of CGST Rules] The application for refund of integrated tax paid on the services exported out of India shall be filed in FORM GST RFD-01 and shall be dealt with in accordance with the provisions of rule 89 of CGST Rules . [Rule 96(9) of CGST Rules] Restriction on claiming refund [ omitted w.e.f. 08.10.2024 Vide N.No. 20/2024-CT dated 08.10.2024 ] The persons claiming refund of integrated tax paid on exports of goods or services should not have - (a) received supplies on which benefit of following notification has been availed N.No. 48/2017-CT dated 18.10.2017 Except it relates to receipt of capital goods by such person against EPCG (deemed export), or N.No. 40/2017- CT(rate) dated 23.10.2017 CGST at the rate of 0.05% shall be payable on intra-State supply of taxable goods by a registered supplier to a registered recipient for export N.No. 41/2017- IT(Rate) dated 23.10.2017 , IGST rate of 0.1% shall be payable on inter-State supply of taxable goods by a registered supplier to a registered recipient for export (b) availed benefit of customs N.N. 78/2017of customs dated 13th October 2017 Notified supplies, when the supply of goods shall be treated as deemed export under GST, or 79/2017 of customs dated 13th October 2017 Customs exemption notifications to exempt Integrated Tax/Cess on import of goods under AA/EPCG schemes except so far it relates to receipt of capital goods by such person against Export Promotion Capital Goods Scheme As per explanation to rule 96(10) Inserted vide Notification No. 16/2020 Central Tax dated 23-03-2020 w.e.f. 23-10-2017, For the purpose of this sub-rule, the benefit of the notifications mentioned therein shall not be considered to have been availed only where the registered person has paid IGST and Compensation Cess on inputs and has availed exemption of only Basic Customs Duty (BCD) under the said notifications. [Rule 96(10) of CGST Rules] Note - Important Instruction, Circular and Notification 1. In order to ensure that refunds start smoothly, following guidelines are issued for the field information [ Instruction No. 15/2017- customs dated 09.10.2017 ] Details of export supplies in Table 6A of GSTR-1 4. The details of zero rated supplies declared in Table 6A of return in Form GSTR-1 are matched electronically with the corresponding details available in Customs Systems as per details provided in shipping bills/ bill of export. Thus exporters must file their GSTR-1 very carefully to ensure that all relevant details match. For their convenience, the details available in the Customs System have been made available for viewing in their ICEGATE login. 4.1 Exporters who have not filed their GSTR-1 for month of July 2017 may be advised to do so immediately. 4.2 For month of August 2017 and subsequent months, facility of filing GSTR-1 has not been made available by GSTN at present. In order to facilitate processing of refunds, GSTN is making available a separate utility for filing details in Table 6A of GSTR-1 on the GSTN Web portal. Exporters may be advised to submit the requisite details once GSTN develops the utility. Valid return in Form GSTR-3 or Form GSTR-3B 5. Filing of valid return in GSTR-3 or GSTR-3B is another pre-condition for considering shipping bill/Bill of export as claim for refund. Exporters may be advised that they must file these returns expeditiously without waiting for the last date, to ensure that their refund is processed in a timely manner. Bank account details 6. As per Rule 96 of CGST Rules 2017 , the refund is to be credited in the bank account of the applicant mentioned in his registration particulars. As a practice, exporters have been declaring details of bank account to Customs for the purpose of drawback etc. There is a possibility that bank account details available with Customs do not match with those declared in the GST registration form. In order to ensure smooth processing and payment of refund of IGST paid on exported goods, it has been decided that said refund amount shall be credited to the bank account of the exporter registered with Customs even if it is different from the bank account of the applicant mentioned in his registration particulars. However, exporters may be advised to either change the bank account declared to Customs to align it with their GST registration particulars or add the account declared with Customs in their GST registration details. 6.1 Further, as the refund payments are being routed through the PFMS portal, the bank account details need to be verified and validated by PFMS. The status of validation of bank account with PFMS is available in ICES. Exporters may be advised that if the account has not been validated by PFMS, they must get their details corrected in the Customs system so that their bank account gets validated by PFMS. Exporters are also advised not to change their bank account details frequently to avoid delay in refund payment. Processing of refund claims 7. Proper officer of each jurisdiction shall generate a payment scroll of eligible IGST refunds in the same manner as RoSL scrolls are generated. The scroll shall be transmitted electronically to PFMS system for onward payment into their bank accounts. Unlike RoSL where paper scrolls are to be sent by field formations, in this case, electronic verification will be done centrally by a DDO appointed in this regard. Detailed EDI procedure for processing of claims and generation of refund scrolls is being circulated by Directorate of Systems, CBEC. DG-Systems is also laying down the procedure for payment and accounting in consultation with Pr. CCA CBEC and CGA of India. Proper officers may be designated in each Commissionerate, who should be in readiness to start generating refund scrolls from 10.10.2017 onwards. 2. Clarification regarding regularization of refund of IGST availed in contravention of rule 96(10) of CGST Rules, 2017 , in cases where the exporters had imported certain inputs without payment of integrated taxes and compensation cess. [ Circular No. 233/27/2024-GST Dated 10.09.2024 ] As per para 2.3 it is clarified that where the inputs were initially imported without payment of integrated tax and compensation cess by availing benefits under Notification No. 78/2017-Customs dated 13.10.2017 or Notification No. 79/2017-Customs dated 13.10.2017 , but subsequently, IGST and compensation cess on such imported inputs are paid at a later date, along with interest, and the Bill of Entry in respect of the import of the said inputs is got reassessed through the jurisdictional Customs authorities to this effect, then the IGST, paid on exports of goods, refunded to the said exporter shall not be considered to be in contravention of provisions of sub-rule (10) of rule 96 of CGST Rules .