GST Network starts online refund processing

GST Network, the IT backbone of the indirect tax system, on Thursday unveiled an online refund process as decided by the GST Council.

With the deployment of online refund functionality, taxpayers can now file refund application (in RFD 01 form) easily and tax officers can process the same online, GST Network said in a statement.

All communications between taxpayers and tax officers will also be online. The online refund process has become effective from September 25, 2019, on the GST portal, it said.

Earlier, the refund processing was done for both Central and State GST by one tax authority to whom the taxpayer was assigned administratively but disbursement was done by accounting authorities of central and state tax departments separately.

This was leading to a delay on account of sharing of sanction order with counterparty accounting authority through that tax authority, it said.

The new system has done away with this and after processing is completed by the tax officer, the sanctioned amount will get credited to the bank account of the Taxpayer through PFMS System, it said.

GST Network CEO Prakash Kumar said the new refund process will create a seamless experience for both taxpayers and tax officers.

"This will boost the disbursement speed of refunds and further improve the GST compliance. Taxpayers can view the various stages of processing of their refund application on the GST Portal and can give replies to notice, if any, online on the GST Portal now," he said.

They will also be given information via SMS and Email, at important stages of processing of their refund application, he said, adding most importantly, the payment of amount will now be done from one disbursement authority i.e. PFMS unlike the earlier method where sanction was done by one authority but payment was made by State and Central Authorities separately.

Meanwhile, all refund applications filed before September 26, 2019 will be processed manually as done under the old refund process.