New Delhi: Exporters said that about 45 per cent of their input tax credit refunds are stuck with the tax authorities hitting smaller firms who don’t have huge resources to pursue their case.
According to them under the GST regime, an exporter has to file their input tax credit claim online and then submit it manually with the tax department to get refunds.
However, while 1.16 lakh claims have been filed online, only 64,000 have submitted it manually with the tax officials to get the refunds till end of September, said an industry source.
“So why 52,000 claims for refunds have not been submitted manually with the tax authorities even after they have submitted it online?" he asked.
Industry sources claimed that most of these exporters are send away by the tax authorities on one pretext or other.
“They are asked to bring one document and then another. So basically their input tax credit refunds are stuck,” said the exporters. Exporters claim that most of these firms are in the SME segment and don’t have the resources to pursue their cases with the tax department. This is blocking the working capital requirement of these small firms and impacting exports.
“Some Rs 6,000 crore has been struck in input tax credit till September 30,” he said.
Exporters said that refund claims for exporters should be made online only and provision to file them manually should be done away with so that they don’t face any harassment.
“Like the IGST process, all the formalities involved in seeking ITC refunds must be made available online,” he said.
India’s exports had risen by 17.86 per cent in October to $26.98 billion.
India’s overall exports (merchandise and services combined) in April-October 2018-19 are estimated to be $308.32 billion, exhibiting a positive growth of 17.17 per cent over the same period last year.
