New Delhi: With reports that PMO is unhappy over delays faced by exporters in getting refunds under GST, CBEC said on Friday claimed that trade bodies are giving ‘inaccurate’ estimates of pending GST refunds.
The CBEC or Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs [CBIC] said that it has noticed that unverified estimates of pending GST refunds on account of exports are published or put forward by various trade bodies.
“These figures are highly speculative and mostly inaccurate,” said CBEC. CBEC said that “it is a fact that while a number of exporters have not been able to get the export refunds so far others have been granted refunds.”
“In order to overcome the causes of the delay in sanctioning of refunds, government has taken various steps, which includes amendments in the rules, changes in the business procedures of common portal and customs automated system to address the systemic issues,” it said.
CBEC said that many of the errors plaguing the claims for refunds are on account of inadequate familiarisation of the exporters with the GST laws and data entry errors in the various GSTRs/ forms.
It said that the government has carried out outreach programmes by issuing guidance circulars, advisories, FAQs, advertisements and also provided an alternative procedure involving manual interface where the errors could not be corrected online. CBEC said that the efforts are beginning to show positive results.
“So far more than Rs 10,000 crore has already been sanctioned by CBEC and states. A standard operating procedure applicable to both Central and state GST has been put in place by virtue of various circulars and clarifications issued with regard to processing of ITC refund,” said CBEC.
The GST Council, in its last meeting on 10th March 2018, has directed all state tax authorities to proactively clear refund claims. “Exporting community is requested to take benefit of this fortnight and wholeheartedly come forward to get their errors rectified to enable sanction of refunds,” said CBEC. The Centre wants to assure the exporting community that it is keen to see that all their eligible refund claims are sanctioned at the earliest, it added.
