Source: Business Standard
GST Network, which provides IT infrastructure and services to the indirect tax system, has unveiled the online refund process as directed by the GST Council. In a statement released by GSTN, it said that the deployment of online refund functionality enables taxpayers to file refund application (in RFD 01 Form) and get it processed by tax officers online. All other communications between the taxpayers and tax officers will also be online.
The new online refund process became effective from September 25 on the GST portal. Before this, the refund processing was done by one tax authority for both Central and State GST, to whom the taxpayers were assigned administratively. However, disbursement was done separately by the accounting authorities of central and state tax departments. This lead to a delay of account of sharing of sanction order through the tax authority with counter-party accounting authority.
The new system has eliminated this and as soon as processing is completed by the tax officer, the sanctioned amount is credited to the bank account of the taxpayer through Public Financial Management System (PFMS). The new refund process will create a seamless experience for both taxpayers and tax officers, said Prakash Kumar, CEO of GST Network.
He added, “This will boost the disbursement speed of refunds and further improve the GST compliance. Taxpayers can view the various stages of processing of their refund application on the GST portal and can give replies to notice, if any, online on the GST portal.”
The taxpayers will also get alerts via SMS and Email, at important stages of processing of their refund application. The refund is largely sought by taxpayers on account of exports. The other categories eligible for a refund are excess Input Tax Credit (ITC), excess cash in cash ledger, inverted duty, etc.
In the meantime, all refund applications filed before 26th September 2019 will be processed manually under the old refund process.
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