Central Board of Indirect Taxes clears Rs 10,700 cr GST, customs duty refund in 16 days

The Central Board of Indirect Taxes (CBIC) has cleared over Rs 10,700 crore worth refunds in GST and customs duty between April 8-23. In the 'Special Refund and Drawback Disposal Drive', the CBIC officers have cleared over 1.07 lakh Goods and Services Tax and IGST refund claims worth Rs 9,818.12 crore.

Over 1.86 lakh customs and duty drawback refund was processed totalling Rs 915.56 crore, the CBIC said in a tweet. "CBIC is committed to help GST Taxpayers/Exim Trade during #COVID19. Expeditious sanction of refunds during Special Refund Drive provide relief to trade, especially MSMEs," it said.

The Finance Ministry had on April 8 said that to provide relief during COVID-19, it has been decided to issue all pending GST and custom refunds which would benefit around 1 lakh business entities, including MSME.

The total refund granted will be approximately Rs 18,000 crore, it had said.

The CBIC had earlier asked its field officers to avoid asking for physical submission of documents from entities who are claiming GST and customs refunds and instead use official email for all communication.

The CBIC had said that the decision to process pending refund claims has been taken with a view to provide immediate relief to taxpayers in these difficult times even though the GST Law provides 15 days for issuing acknowledgement or deficiency memo and total 60 days for disposing off refund claims without any liability to pay interest.