Special drive to process pending GST refunds announced

The government on Wednesday announced a special fortnight-long drive from May 31 to June 14 to process pending GST refunds.

Acknowledging that refunds of Goods and Services Tax (GST) was a concern for both government and trade for the past several months, the Finance Ministry said till now, the government had sanctioned more than Rs 30,000 crore as GST refunds including Rs 16,000 crore of Integrated-GST (IGST) and Rs 14,000 crore of input tax credit.

In March, the government had launched a similar exercise to process the pending GST refunds on account of exports. However this time, the drive would facilitate all types of refund claims received till April 30.

"This will include refunds of IGST paid on exports, refunds of unutilized input tax credit and all other GST refunds," the Finance Ministry said in a statement.

"Contrary to the press reports that there has been a dip in refund sanction after the first refund fortnight in March, the refund sanctioned during May is to the tune of Rs 8,000 crore," it said.

The ministry added that refund claims worth Rs 14,000 crore were pending with the government, as against the figure of Rs 20,000 crore projected in the press reports.

"In order to liquidate the pendency, the government is starting a second Special Drive Refund Fortnight from May 31 to June 14," it said.

--IANS

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