Rs 5,575-cr indirect tax refunds processed since March 30, says CBIC

Earlier, the tax body had initiated a measure to help GST return filers by facilitating early refund of input tax credit

More than 12,900 refund applications from taxpayers, involving Rs 5,575 crore worth of refunds, have been processed since March 30, 2020, the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) said on Friday. The body had processed 7,873 claims, worth Rs 3,854 crore, in the past week alone, reported news agency ANI.

CBIC is running a 'Special Refund and Drawback Disposal Drive' this month to clear Rs 18,000 crore worth pending refunds.

Earlier, CBIC had initiated a measure to help GST return filers by facilitating early refund of input tax credit (ITC) and ensuring wrong ITC claims were not processed in the absence of relevant information. "This measure was taken into effect with GST Council's approval at its 39th meeting held on March 14 to mitigate delays in ITC refunds faced by the taxpayers, besides ensuring that fake ITC claims are not processed," CBIC said in a statement.

"It had been brought to the notice of GST Council by various stakeholders including the taxpayers. It was noticed that lot of time is spent in the verification of whether the credit was availed on services and/or Capital Goods in certain categories for the refund claims," it added.

CBIC further said that in order to address the difficulty faced by trade in providing this data at the time of processing of claims leading to delays and an increase in compliance cost, it was decided in the GST Council to make a declaration of classification codes a part of the application itself.

The GST Council in the same meeting had also decided to allow bunching of tax periods across financial years to facilitate the claim of refund by exporters. This would apply to applications filed after March 31. It may also be noted that the due date of all such applications which were due during March 20, 2020, and June 29, 2020, has been extended to June 30, 2020.

On Monday, CBIC has asked its field officers to avoid asking for physical submission of documents from entities who are claiming GST and customs refunds.

The revenue department has also launched electronic delivery of gate passes and final bills of entry to customs brokers and importers with an aim to further simplify import clearance process by reducing human interface and help tackle the scourge of Covid-19.