GST Portal enables Online Processing of Refund Applications and Single Authority Disbursement

Goods and Services Tax Network (GSTN) on 25^th September 2019, has implemented online processing for refund applications and single authority disbursement, which will facilitate taxpayers to file refund application online and help the tax officers to process the application there itself.

An advisory note on the same has been issued under “news and update section “on the GSTN portal.

Key highlights from the advisory note:

1. The tax payers shall file the refund application in Form RFD-01, which shall be processed electronically/ online by the tax-officer and all communications between the tax officers and the taxpayers shall take place electronically.
2. The Form RFD-01A has been disabled on the portal. However, the taxpayer shall be able to view the status of Form RFD-01A applications also along with the new ones.
3. Refund amount shall be disbursed by accredited bank of Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) through the Public Financial Management System (PFMS) after bank account validation. 
4. The bank account details mentioned in the refund application shall be validated by PFMS after filing of RFD-01. The taxpayers must ensure that the bank account details selected in the refund application are valid and correct. 
5. Once the application is submitted, the tax officer shall issue the acknowledgment in RFD-2 electronically to the taxpayer. In case of any deficiency in the application, the tax officer shall issue RFD-3 and the taxpayer is required to file a fresh refund application.
6. The provisional order and the payment order shall be issued in Form RFD-04 and RFD-05.The bank account details mentioned in the refund application shall be validated by PFMS after issuance of RFD-05 by the tax-officer.
7. The taxpayer will need to change/ edit the bank account details (through non-core amendment in registration in REG-14) if there is failure of bank account validation by PFMS. After performing this step, the taxpayer needs to enter the updated bank account by clicking on ‘Update Bank Account’ functionality provided with the ARN of the refund application.
8. The taxpayer shall be able to view the final sanction/ rejection order in RFD-06 on his dashboard. And the withholding order shall be issued in Form RFD-7B.
9. In case of any show cause notice in Form RFD-08 issued by the tax officer, the taxpayer shall view them in his dashboard and shall give reply to the notice in Form RFD-09 within 15 days from the receipt of the SCN. If the taxpayer doesn’t respond within 15 days of the issuance of SCN, the tax officer can take action on the refund application.
10. The order of re-credit of rejected amount shall be issued in Form PMT-03. With the issuance of PMT-03, the inadmissible ITC shall get re-credited to the electronic credit ledger of the taxpayer automatically.
11. The taxpayer is required to give an undertaking that he will not file an appeal against the refund order if he/she desires to get a re-credit of the rejected amount. This undertaking has to be submitted to the tax officer manually.

Click here to read advisory.