Second Refund Application can be Filed even in Cases Where Nil Return in Refund is Claimed earlier by Mistake

[Circular No. 110/29/2019 – GST dated 3 October 2019]

Subject: Eligibility to file a refund application in FORM GST RFD-01 for a period and category under which a NIL refund application has already been filed – regarding

Several registered persons have inadvertently filed a NIL refund claim for a certain period under a particular category on the common portal in FORM GST RFD-01A/RFD-01 in spite of the fact that they had a genuine claim for refund for that period under the said category. Once a NIL refund claim is filed, the common portal does not allow the registered person to re-file the refund claim for that period under the said category. Representations have been received requesting that registered persons may be allowed to re-file the refund claim for the period and the category under which the NIL claim has inadvertently been filed. The matter has been examined and in order to clarify this issue and to ensure uniformity in the implementation of the provisions of the law across field formations, the Board, in exercise of its powers conferred by section 168 (1) of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 (hereinafter referred to as “CGST Act”), hereby clarifies the issues raised as below:

2. Whenever a registered person proceeds to claim refund in FORM GST RFD-01A/RFD-01 under a category for a particular period on the common portal, the system pops up a message box asking whether he wants to apply for ‘NIL’ refund for the selected period. This is to ensure that all refund applications under a particular category are filed chronologically. However, certain registered persons may have inadvertently opted for filing of ‘NIL’ refund. Once a ‘NIL’ refund claim has been filed for a period under a particular category, the common portal does not allow the registered person to re-file the refund claim for that period under the said category.

3. It is now clarified that a registered person who has filed a NIL refund claim in FORM GST RFD-01A/RFD-01 for a given period under a particular category, may again apply for refund for the said period under the same category only if he satisfies the following two conditions:

a. The registered person must have filed a NIL refund claim in FORM GST RFD-01A/RFD-01 for a certain period under a particular category; and

b. No refund claims in FORM GST RFD-01A/RFD-01 must have been filed by the registered person under the same category for any subsequent period.

It may be noted that condition (b) shall apply only for refund claims falling under the following categories:

i. Refund of unutilized input tax credit (ITC) on account of exports without payment of tax;

ii. Refund of unutilized ITC on account of supplies made to SEZ Unit/SEZ Developer without payment of tax;

iii. Refund of unutilized ITC on account of accumulation due to inverted tax structure;

In all other cases, registered persons shall be allowed to re-apply even if the condition (b) is not satisfied

4. Registered persons satisfying the above conditions may file the refund claim under “Any Other” category instead of the category under which the NIL refund claim has already been filed. However, the refund claim should pertain to the same period for which the NIL application was filed. The application under the “Any Other” category shall also be accompanied by all the supporting documents which would be required to be otherwise submitted with the refund claim.

5. On receipt of the claim, the proper officer shall calculate the admissible refund amount as per the applicable rules and in the manner detailed in para 3 of Circular No.59/33/2018-GST dated 04.09.2018, wherever applicable. Further, upon scrutiny of the application for completeness and eligibility, if the proper officer is satisfied that the whole or any part of the amount claimed is payable as refund, he shall request the taxpayer in writing, if required, to debit the said amount from his electronic credit ledger through FORM GST DRC-03. Once the proof of such debit is received by the proper officer, he shall proceed to issue the refund order in FORM GST RFD-06 and the payment order in FORM GST RFD-05.

6. It is requested that suitable trade notices may be issued to publicize the contents of this circular.

7. Difficulty, if any, in implementation of the above instructions may please be brought to the notice of the Board.

F.No. CBEC – 20/06/03/2019 – GST