GST refund of Rs 827 bn to exporters cleared, Rs 54 bn pending as on Oct 31

The finance ministry said on Thursday that GST refund of Rs 827 billion to exporters has been cleared as on October 31, which is 93.8 per cent of the total such claims with the tax authorities.

In a statement, the ministry said Rs 54 billion worth GST refund is still pending with the government and that is being "expeditiously processed".
 

"As on October 31, 2018, total GST refunds to the tune of Rs 827 billion have been disposed by the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) and the state authorities out of the total refund claims of Rs 881 billion received so far," the ministry said.

It added that, the disposal rate of Goods and Services Tax (GST) refunds is 93.8 per cent as on October 31.

Giving the refunds' break-up, the ministry further said that Rs 429.35 billion of IGST refunds have been disposed of as on October 31, which is 93.27 per cent of the total such claims.

As much as Rs 30.96 billion worth of IGST refund claims are held up on account of "various deficiencies" which have been communicated to exporters for remedial action.

With regard to refund of input tax credit claims, the ministry said of the total claims of Rs 421.45 billion, the pendency as on October 31 stood at Rs 23.05 billion.

"Provisional/final order has been issued in case of (ITC) refunds amounting to Rs 346 billion. In claims amounting to Rs 52.39 billion, deficiency memos have been issued by respective GST authorities," the statement said.

The ministry said there are concerns that there is a growing pendency of GST refunds and sought to assure the exporters that there is no let up in the sanction of GST refunds.

The pending GST refund claims amounting to Rs 54 billion are being expeditiously processed so as to provide relief to eligible exporters. Refund claims without any deficiency are being cleared expeditiously," it said.

Efforts are being made continuously to clear all the pending refund claims, where ever requisite information is provided and found eligible, it said.

"Co-operation of the exporter community is solicited to ensure that they respond to the deficiency memos and errors communicated by Centre and State GST as well as Customs Authorities and also exercise due diligence while filing GSTR 1 and GSTR 3B returns as well as Shipping Bills," the statement added.