Why GST returns are Getting Stucked

As about 70 per cent of GST refunds stuck due to flawed information, the CBEC has asked exporters to amend the details in the final returns of subsequent month to enable the department to process the refund claims by March.

The Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) has sanctioned Rs 4,000 crore worth refunds to exporters in 4 months since October. Still about Rs 10,000 crore worth claims are stuck due to discrepancies in the information furnished by exporters to GST Network (GSTN) in filing GSTR 1 or Table 6A or GSTR 3B and shipping bill filed with Customs.

"The analysis of data indicates that only about 32 per cent records of GSTR 1 / Table 6A have been transmitted from GSTN to Customs. In other words, a majority (about 70 per cent) of refund claims are held up either due to insufficient information or lack of due diligence on the part of exporter while filing GST returns," the CBEC said in a communication to Principal Commissioners.

The analysis of claims data post October 2017 indicate that while the quantum of error is decreasing, a large number of exporters are still filing incomplete GSTR 1 or Table 6A, where shipping bill number or date or port code are missing.

"These records are not processed / forwarded to Customs by GSTN. E-mails have been sent to exporters asking them to correct their records through amendment process of GSTR 1 i e through Table 9 of GSTR 1 of the following month," the CBEC said.

The CBEC had in October 2017 started refunds for exporters of goods who have paid Integrated GST (IGST) and have claimed refund based on shipping bill by filling up Table 6A. While for those businesses making zero rated supplies or those want to claim input credit have to fill Form RFD-01A.

Analysis of GSTN data show that in a large number of cases, the refund claimed by an exporter is higher than the GST paid by him and consequently, the information filed by exporters is not forwarded to Customs by GSTN.

"In these cases also, e-mails have been sent to exporters asking them to correct their records through amendment process of GSTR 1 i e through Table 9 of GSTR 1 of the following month," the CBEC said.

The apex indirect tax authority also said where exporters have already filed information through Table 9 of GSTR-1, the said information is being validated by GSTN. "The validated information is expected to be forwarded by GSTN to Customs by mid-March 2018 for further processing".