Over Rs 7000 cr GST refunds of exporters cleared

The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) has cleared over Rs 7000 crore worth Goods and Services Tax (GST) refunds of exporters during the initial phase of the special refund drive undertaken by the authorities.

The tax department has also asked the exporters and traders to visit their jurisdictional GST office or Custom House/Port and settle their pending claims during the Special Refund Fortnight from May 31, 2018, to June 14, 2018.

On the other hand, Chief Commissioner of Delhi Customs Sunil K Sawhney has informed that they will try to scroll down around 26,000 shipping bills, which are still pending due to lack of relevant documents, during this special drive.

"To facilitate the exporters for an expeditious disbursal of the refund of Integrated Goods and Services Tax (IGST) paid on the goods exported by them up to 30th April, we are holding a special fortnight from 31 may to June 14, 2018, to remove the errors made by the exporters in their shipping bills," Sawhney said.

As of now, the Delhi customs zone has successfully scrolled out IGST refunds amounting to Rs 290 crore over 12,000 shipping bills in the last eight days.

During this process, the customs department has been able to correct 8,000 shipping bills of the exporters involving about Rs 143 crore of IGST and Rs 194.75 crore of Rebate of State Levies (RoSL), till June 8.

Incomplete information and mismatch errors have caused much trouble in processing the refund amount for exporters.

Several measures have been taken by the government to ease the backlog of refunds and help exporters and traders.