Hyderabad: Exporters hit by the rise in the rupee value against the US dollar are seeking fast-track disbursal of refunds under the SGST regime to enable them to meet the requirements of working capital and cash flows.
Securing state-level GST refunds claims are a time-consuming process, said an exporter. Yielding to the pressure from exporters, the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) has taken up the third phase of the refund clearance fortnight from July 20, less than 45 days after the completion of the second phase.
The other problems that exporters face include lack of interface between GSTN and customs gate ‘ICE Gate,’ shipments liners rectification. “If any problem doesn’t arise, RFD-01A refund application can be processed online. Otherwise, physical submission of supporting documents is required,” said a GST official.
The CBIC organised two drives to clear refund claims from March 15 to 29 and between May 31 and June 16. However, exporters across the country have sought simultaneous clearance of SGST along with IGST and CGST.
Out of the sanctioned refunds, 440 applications were shared with nodal officer of state tax authority for making payment of sanctioned refund amount of SGST/UGST involving tax of Rs 48 crore. The others pertain to only refund of CGST or IGST.
“The corresponding SGST component has not been sanctioned by the state government even though the CGST/IGST part of refund has been sanctioned by the Central GST Offices,” said an exporter.
To ease this problem, the Federation of Indian Export Organisations (Fieo) has set up help desks at its offices in Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Kochi, Coimbatore and Tirupur. Dr A. Sakthivel, southern regional chairman, Fieo, thanked the CBITC for agreeing to his suggestion for setting up IGST refund help desks at FIEO offices.
Dr Sakthivel said: “We took up the issue of MSME exporters regarding pending IGST refund claims due to various reasons and it has been decided by the Board that along with ongoing refund week, help desks at the offices of FIEO and AEPC are expatiating resolution of IGST refund related issues.”
The help desks remain active till August 1, he said.
Fieo thanked the Centre for allowing the textile sector to claim input tax credits refund from July 27 onwards. “The textiles sector was representing with the textiles minister for refund of accumulated ITC for a very long time and was showing negative export growth since last few months,” said Mr Saktivel.
During the second phase of refund fortnight, the Hyderabad zone led the country in terms of clearances with 88 per cent. A total of 893 RFD-01A applications involving tax of Rs 407 crore were physically received, of which refunds had e been sanctioned involving tax of Rs 319 crore.
As many as 313 applications have been received from the nodal officer of state tax for making payment of sanctioned refund amount of CGST/IGST to the tune of Rs 97 crore. Out of these, 250 cases involving Rs 90 crore in tax are in various stages of disposal.
