Central Board of Excise and Customs has on 15th of March 2018 clarified that refund of eligible credit on account of SGST will be available even if the supplier of goods or services or both has availed of drawback in respect of CGST. Further, in cases involving delay in furnishing of LUT, Circular No. 37/11/2018-GST, issued for the purpose, clarifies that substantive benefits of zero rating may not be denied where it has been established that exports as per provisions have been made.
It has also been clarified that as long as goods have actually been exported even after a period of three months (as prescribed in Rule 96A (1) of the CGST Rules), payment of IGST first and claiming refund at a subsequent date should not be insisted upon.
According to the Circular, deficiency memo with respect to a refund application will be issued only once unless the deficiencies pointed out in such original / first deficiency memo remain unrectified or any other substantive deficiency is noticed subsequently.
It also states that asking for self–declaration with every refund claim where the exports have been made under LUT is not warranted.
The Circular further clarifies issues relating to discrepancy between values mentioned in GST invoice and shipping bill/bill of export, non-refund of taxes paid under existing laws, filing frequency of refund applications, non-insistence on proof of realization of export proceeds for processing of refund claims related to export of goods, and supplies to merchant exporters.
An exhaustive list of documents required for processing the various categories of refund claims in respect of exports is also provided in the Circular.