STATUTORY PROVISIONS AND MANNER OF FILING CLAIM FOR REFUND UNDER GST LAW - Handbook of GST Law & Procedures (CBIC) [October 2024] - GST

3. STATUTORY PROVISIONS AND MANNER OF FILING CLAIM FOR REFUND UNDER GST LAW. 3.1(a). The refund application for balance in Electronic Cash Ledger is required to be made in FORM GST RFD-01 . The balance in the Electronic Cash Ledger is required to be refunded after the taxpayer discharges the entire liability towards tax, interest, penalty, fee or any other amount payable under the Act or the rules made thereunder, in accordance with the provisions of Section 54 of CGST Act, 2017. (Section 49(6) of CGST Act, 2017). 3.1(b). The application for refund should be accompanied by- Documentary evidence prescribed to establish that a refund is due to the applicant; and Evidence that incidence of duty has not been passed on by him to any other person. However, where the amount claimed as refund is less than two lakh rupees, self- declaration based on documents available with him is sufficient - Section 54(4) of CGST Act, 2017. 3.2 Refund of IGST paid on services exported Refund of IGST paid on services exported shall be filed in FORM GST RFD-01 and shall be dealt in accordance with provisions of Rule 89 of CGST Rules, 2017 (Rule 96(9) of CGST Rules, 2017) 3.3 Refund of IGST paid on goods exported (a) Refund of IGST paid on export of goods is processed and disbursed by Customs. (b) As per Rule 96(1) of the CGST Rules, 2017, the Shipping Bill filed by an exporter is deemed to be an application for refund of integrated tax paid on the goods exported out of India and such application is deemed to have been filed only when: (i) the person in charge of the conveyance carrying the export goods duly files an export manifest or an export report covering the number and the date of Shipping Bills or Bills of Export; and (ii) the applicant has furnished a valid return in FORM GSTR-3B , as the case may be. (c) The details of the relevant export invoices contained in FORM GSTR-1 (or Table 6A thereof) are transmitted electronically by the common portal to the system designated by the Customs and the said system shall transmit to the common portal the confirmation that the goods covered by the said invoices have been exported out of India. (d) On receipt of information regarding furnishing of return in FORM GSTR-3B and FORM GSTR-1 from the common portal, the system designated by the Customs (or the proper officer) process the claim for refund and an amount equal to the Integrated tax paid in respect of each Shipping Bill or Bill of Export is credited to the bank account of the applicant mentioned in his registration particulars and as intimated to the Customs authorities. 3.4 Refund application in case of supply of goods to SEZ or SEZ Developer - In respect of supply of goods to a Special Economic Zone unit or a Special Economic Zone Developer, the application for refund in FORM GST RFD-01 shall be filed by the supplier of goods along with the documentary evidences mentioned in Rule 89(2) of CGST Rules, 2017 after the goods have been admitted in full in the Special Economic Zone for authorized operations, as endorsed by the specified officer of the Zone. 3.5 Refund application in case of supply of services to SEZ- In respect of supply of services to a Special Economic Zone unit or a Special Economic Zone Developer, the application for refund in FORM GST RFD-01 shall be filed by the supplier of services along with such evidence specified in Rule 89(2) of the CGST Rules, 2017 regarding supply and receipt of services for authorized operations, as endorsed by the specified officer of the Zone. 3.6 Refund claim in case of Deemed Export either by recipient or supplier (i) Notification No. 48/2017-CT dated 18.10.2017 specifies certain supplies of goods as deemed export. (ii) In respect of supplies regarded as deemed exports, the application may be filed in FORM GST RFD-01 by- (a) The recipient of deemed export supplies; or (b) The supplier of deemed export supplies in cases where the recipient does not avail of input tax credit on such supplies and furnishes an undertaking to the effect that the supplier may claim the refund. (iii) In case such refund is sought by the supplier of deemed export supplies, the documentary evidences specified in Notification No. 49/2017-CT dated 18.10.2017 are required to be furnished, which includes acknowledgment by the jurisdictional Tax Officer of the Advance Authorisation holder or Export Promotion Capital Goods (EPCG) Authorisation holder, as the case may be, about the receipt of the deemed export supplies or a copy of the tax invoice under which such supplies have been made by the supplier, duly signed by the recipient Export Oriented Unit (EOU) acknowledging the receipt of deemed export supplies, an undertaking by the recipient of deemed export supplies that he shall not claim the refund in respect of such supplies and that no input tax credit on such supplies has been availed of by him. (iv) In case the refund is filed by the recipient of deemed export supplies, an undertaking by the supplier of deemed export supplies to the extent that he shall not claim the refund in respect of such supplies is also required to be furnished. (v) The procedure regarding procurement of supplies of goods from DTA by Export Oriented Unit (EOU) / Electronic Hardware Technology Park (EHTP) Unit / Software Technology Park (STP) Unit/Bio Technology Parks (BTP) Unit under deemed export as laid down in Circular No. 14/14/2017-GST dated 06.11.2017 needs to be complied with. (vi) As per the provisions of Rule 89(2)(g) of the CGST Rules, 2017, the statement 5B of FORM GST RFD-01 is required to be furnished for claiming refund on supplies declared as deemed exports. (vii) Rule 89(4A) of CGST Rules, 2017 provides for refund of ITC availed in respect of other inputs or input services used in making zero-rated supply of goods or services or both, where the supplier has availed benefit of Notification No. 48/2017-CT dated 18.10.2017. (viii) Rule 89(4B) of CGST Rules, 2017 provides for grant of refund of input tax credit availed in respect of inputs received for export of goods and the input tax credit availed in respect of other inputs or input services to the extent used in making such export of goods, to the exporter, on which supplier has availed benefit under Notification No. 40/2017-Central Tax (Rate) dated 23.10.2017 or Notification No. 41/2017-Integrated Tax (Rate) dated 23.10.2017, or when the exporter has himself availed the benefit of duty/tax free procurement under the Notification No. 78/2017-Customs dated 13.10.2017 or Notification No. 79/2017-Customs dated 13.10.2017. 3.7 Refund of advance tax by Casual or Non-resident taxable person- Refund of any amount, after adjusting the tax payable by the applicant out of the advance tax deposited under Section 27 of the CGST Act, 2017 (casual taxable person or non-resident taxable person) at the time of registration, shall be claimed by way of filing application in FORM GST RFD-01 only after the last return required to be furnished by him has been so furnished. (Rule 89(1) of CGST Rules, 2017) 3.8 Refund claims on account of inverted duty structure (i) Refund of unutilized ITC in case of inverted tax structure , as provided in Section 54(3) of the CGST Act, 2017 is available where ITC remains unutilized even after setting off of available ITC for the payment of output tax liability. (ii) Refund claim in respect of unutilized input tax credit, accumulated on account of rate of tax on inputs being higher than the rate of tax on output supplies (other than nil rated or fully exempt supplies) has to be made electronically in FORM GST RFD-01 for a tax period or by clubbing tax periods. (iii) The refund claim for a tax period may be filed only after filing the details in FORM GSTR-1 for the said tax period. (iv) It should be ensured that a valid return in FORM GSTR-3B has been filed for the last tax period before the one in which the refund application is being filed.