How to File GST Refund Claims Manually? Step by Step Guide

GST refund process is no longer difficult as the government has introduced an alternative process for filing GST refund claims manually for exporters. This process will be faster and the refunds will be processed within as low as seven days.

Under the GST, the exports of taxable goods or services are treated as zero-rated supplies. It means that the suppliers will not have to pay any GST on any of their exports. However, the imports are taxable under the new tax regime. Exporters can claim refunds of their input tax paid on imports. The process is, however, a little cumbersome.

Up until now, the refunds claim were to be filed online on the common portal. It was a long and tricky process The untimely supply of input credits has greatly affected the liquidity of such exporters whose businesses are completely dependent on the continuous and regular flow of cash. The things are now likely to get much easier as the government has allowed exporters to manually find refund claims.

How to File GST Refund Claims?

Exports who paid IGST and those who paid tax on inputs and those merchants who make zero-rated supplies to SEZ units can now claim refunds for their input credits.

In order to claim for ITC, an exporter has to follow the steps mentioned below.

• Download the refund Form RFD-01A from the GST Portal, you can view also here, For English and For Hindi
• Fill in the form providing correct details
• Submit the form to the Jurisdictional Commissioner of your area

“Due to the non-availability of the refund module on the common portal, it has been decided by the competent authority … that the applications/documents/forms pertaining to refund claims on account of zero-rated supplies shall be filed and processed manually till further orders,” the CBEC said in a circular.

As of now, the option for filing refund claims is not activated on the GST Portal website. The CBEC only last month started the refund process for exporters who have paid IGST and filed refund claims through the GST Portal.

From now on, exporters will have to download and manually file Form RFD-01A in order to claim input credit for the IGST paid by them. The form has to be printed and submitted to the Chief Commissioner of Central Tax and the Commissioner of State Tax.

The tax refund, upon successful verification, will be granted by the tax officer within 7 days.

Tax expert Abhishek Jain said, “Since online system was not there for exports of services and supplies to SEZ and those exporters claiming credit for input credit, the manual system has been launched. Starting of the refund process is a good thing, but it remains to be seen in how many days the exporters actually get the refund credited in their bank accounts.”

Exporters making supplies to SEZ units and those who have paid GST on inputs will also be eligible to claim refunds through the manual system. However, the clarification regarding the timeline (and by when the exporters will receive the refund in their bank accounts) is still not clear.