Circular No. 17/17/2017 - GST
F. No. 349/169/2017-GST
Government of India
Ministry of Finance
Department of Revenue
Central Board of Excise and Customs
GST Policy Wing
New Delhi, Dated the 15th November, 2017
To,
The Principal Chief Commissioners / Chief Commissioners / Principal Commissioners
/ Commissioners of Central Tax (All)
The Principal Director Generals / Director Generals (All)
Madam/Sir,
Sub – Manual filing and processing of refund claims in respect of zero-rated
supplies - reg.
Due to the non-availability of the refund module on the common portal, it has
been decided by the competent authority, on the recommendations of the Council, that
the applications/documents/forms pertaining to refund claims on account of zero-rated
supplies shall be filed and processed manually till further orders. Therefore, in
exercise of the powers conferred by sub-section (1) of section 168 of the Central
Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 (hereinafter referred to as ‘the CGST Act’) and for
the purpose of ensuring uniformity, the following conditions and procedure are laid
down for the manual filing and processing of the refund claims:
2.1
As per sub-section (3) of section 16 of the Integrated Goods and Services Tax
Act, 2017 (hereinafter referred to as ‘the IGST Act’) read with clause (i) of sub-
section (3) and sub-section (6) of section 54 of the CGST Act and rules 89 to 96A of
the Central Goods and Services Tax Rules, 2017 (hereinafter referred to as ‘the CGST
Rules’), a registered person may make zero-rated supplies of goods or services or both
on payment of integrated tax and claim refund of the tax so paid, or make zero-rated
supplies of goods or services or both under bond or Letter of Undertaking without
payment of integrated tax and claim refund of unutilized input tax credit in relation to
such zero rated supplies.
2.2
The refund of integrated tax paid on goods exported out of India is governed by
rule 96 of the CGST Rules. The shipping bill filed by an exporter shall be deemed to
be an application for refund in such cases. The application shall be deemed to have
been filed only when export manifest or export report is filed and the applicant has
furnished a valid return in FORM GSTR-3 or FORM GSTR-3B, as the case may be.
Upon receipt of the information regarding furnishing of a valid return in FORM
GSTR-3 or FORM GSTR-3B, as the case may be, from the common portal, the
system designated by the Customs shall process the claim for refund and an amount
equal to the integrated tax paid in respect of such export shall be electronically
credited to the bank account of the applicant. Any order regarding withholding of such
refund or its further sanction respectively in PART-B of FORM GST RFD-07 or
FORM GST RFD-06 shall be done manually till the refund module is operational on
the common portal.
2.3
The application for refund of integrated tax paid on zero-rated supply of goods
to a Special Economic Zone developer or a Special Economic Zone unit or in case of
zero-rated supply of services (that is, except the cases covered in paragraph 2.2 above
and para 2.4 below) is required to be filed in FORM GST RFD-01A (as notified in
the CGST Rules vide notification No. 55/2017 – Central Tax dated 15.11.2017) by the
supplier on the common portal and a print out of the said form shall be submitted
before the jurisdictional proper officer along with all necessary documentary
evidences as applicable (as per the details in statement 2 or 4 of Annexure to FORM
GST RFD – 01), within the time stipulated for filing of such refund under the CGST
Act.
2.4
The application for refund of unutilized input tax credit on inputs or input
services used in making such zero-rated supplies shall be filed in FORM GST RFD-
01A on the common portal and the amount claimed as refund shall get debited in
accordance with sub-rule (3) of rule 86 of the CGST Rules from the amount in the
electronic credit ledger to the extent of the claim. The common portal shall generate a
proof of debit (ARN- Acknowledgement Receipt Number) which would be mentioned
in the FORM GST RFD-01A submitted manually, along with the print out of FORM
GST RFD-01A to the jurisdictional proper officer, and with all necessary
documentary evidences as applicable (as per details in statement 3 or 5 of Annexure to
FORM GST RFD-01), within the time stipulated for filing of such refund under the
CGST Act.
2.5
The registered person needs to file the refund claim with the jurisdictional tax
authority to which the taxpayer has been assigned as per the administrative order
issued in this regard by the Chief Commissioner of Central Tax and the Commissioner
of State Tax. In case such an order has not been issued in the State, the registered
person is at liberty to apply for refund before the Central Tax Authority or State Tax
Authority till the administrative mechanism for assigning of taxpayers to respective
authority is implemented. However, in the latter case, an undertaking is required to be
submitted stating that the claim for sanction of refund has been made to only one of
the authorities. It is reiterated that the Central Tax officers shall facilitate the
processing of the refund claims of all registered persons whether or not such person
was registered with the Central Government in the earlier regime.
2.6
Once such a refund application in FORM GST RFD-01A is received in the
office of the jurisdictional proper officer, an entry shall be made in a refund register to
be maintained for this purpose with the following details –
Table 1
Sl.
No
.
Applicant’
s name
GSTI
N
Date
of
receipt of
applicatio
n
Period
to
which
the
claim
pertain
s
Nature
of
refund
–
Refund of
integrated
tax
paid/Refun
d
of
unutilized
ITC
Amoun
t
of
refund
claime
d
Date of issue of
acknowledgme
nt in FORM
GST RFD-02
Date
of
receipt of
complete
applicatio
n
(as
mentioned
in FORM
GST
RFD-02)
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
2.7
Further, all communication in regard to the FORMS mentioned below shall be
done manually, within the timelines as specified in the relevant rules, till the module is
operational on the common portal, and all such communications shall also be recorded
appropriately in the refund register as discussed in the succeeding paragraphs –
Sl.No.
FORM
Details
Relevant
provision
of
the
CGST
Rules, 2017
1.
FORM GST RFD-02
Acknowledgement
Rules
90(1)
and 90(2)
2.
FORM GST RFD-03
Deficiency memo
Rule 90(3)
3.
FORM GST RFD-04
Provisional refund order
Rule 91(2)
4.
FORM GST RFD-05
Payment advice
Rules
91(3),
92(4),
92(5)
and 94
5.
FORM GST RFD-06
Refund
sanction/Rejection
order
Rules
92(1),
92(3),
92(4),
92(5) and 96(7)
6.
FORM GST RFD-07
Order
for
complete
adjustment/withholding
of
sanctioned refund
Rules
92(1),
92(2) and 96(6)
7.
FORM GST RFD-08
Notice
for
rejection
of
application for refund
Rule 92(3)
8.
FORM GST RFD-09
Reply to show cause notice
Rule 92(3)
2.8
The processing of the claim till the provisional sanction of refund shall be
recorded in the refund register as in the table indicated below -
