Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) has issued Circular No. 45/2018-GST dated 30th May, 2018 to clarify certain refund related issues as stated below-
- Claim for refund filed by an Input Service Distributor (ISD), composition taxpayer or a non-resident taxable person:
It is clarified that in case of a claim for refund of balance in the electronic cash ledger filed by an ISD or a composition taxpayer; and the claim for refund of balance in the electronic cash and/or credit ledger by a non-resident taxable person, the filing of the details in FORM GSTR-1 and the return in FORM GSTR-3B is not mandatory. Instead, the return in FORM GSTR-4 filed by a composition taxpayer, the details in FORM GSTR-6 filed by an ISD and the return in FORM GSTR-5 filed by a non-resident taxable person shall be sufficient for claiming the said refund.
- Application for refund of integrated tax paid on export of services and supplies made to a Special Economic Zone developer or a Special Economic Zone unit
While filing the return in FORM GSTR-3B for a given tax period, certain registered persons committed errors in declaring the export of services on payment of integrated tax or zero rated supplies made to a Special Economic Zone developer or a Special Economic Zone unit on payment of integrated tax. They have shown such supplies in the Table under column 3.1(a) instead of showing them in column 3.1(b) of FORM GSTR-3B whilst they have shown the correct details in Table 6A or 6B of FORM GSTR-1 for the relevant tax period and duly discharged their tax liabilities but they are unable to file the refund application in FORM GST RFD-01A because of an in-built validation check.
In this regard, it is clarified that for the tax periods commencing from 01.07.2017 to 31.03.2018, registered persons shall be allowed to file the refund application in FORM GST RFD-01A on the common portal subject to the condition that the amount of refund of integrated tax/cess claimed shall not be more than the aggregate amount of integrated tax/cess mentioned in the Table under columns 3.1(a), 3.1(b) and 3.1(c) of FORM GSTR-3B filed for the corresponding tax period
- Refund of unutilized input tax credit of compensation cess availed on inputs in cases where the final product is not subject to the levy of compensation cess:
It is clarified that a registered person making zero rated supply under bond or LUT may claim refund of unutilized credit including that of compensation cess paid, however they cannot claim refund of compensation cess in case of zero-rated supply on payment of integrated tax.
- Whether bond or Letter of Undertaking (LUT) is required in the case of zero rated supply of exempted or non-GST goods and whether refund can be claimed by the exporter of exempted or non-GST goods
It is clarified that in respect of refund claims on account of export of non-GST and exempted goods without payment of integrated tax, LUT/bond is not required. Such registered persons exporting non-GST goods shall comply with the requirements prescribed under the existing law (i.e. Central Excise Act, 1944 or the VAT law of the respective State) or under the Customs Act, 1962, if any. Further, the exporter would be eligible for refund of unutilized input tax credit of central tax, state tax, union territory tax, integrated tax and compensation cess in such cases.
- Scope of the restriction imposed by rule 96(10) of the CGST Rules
Sub-rule (10) of rule 96 of the CGST Rules seeks to prevent an exporter, who is receiving goods from suppliers availing the benefit of certain specified notifications under which they supply goods without payment of tax or at reduced rate of tax, from exporting goods under payment of integrated tax. It has been clarified that the said restriction is not applicable to an exporter who has procured goods from suppliers who have not availed the benefits of the specified notifications for making their outward supplies or who has procured goods from suppliers who have, in turn, received goods from registered persons availing the benefits of these notifications. The restriction under sub-rule (10) of rule 96 of the CGST Rules is only applicable to those exporters who are directly receiving goods from those suppliers who are availing the benefit under specified notifications.
For further details please refer the attached Circular.
Source: Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs
