Comments
The Central Board of Indirect Taxes (CBIC) on Monday announced the payment of IGST (integrated Goods & Services Tax) refund of ₹1.12-lakh crore, benefitting over 83,500 exporters.
Under the IGST Act, 2017, all exports (whether of goods or services) as well as supplies to SEZs (Special Economic Zones) have been categorised as Zero Rated Supplies. This has led to a provision for refund to ensure that tax is not exported. Pending of refunds affects working capital for the exporters, which is why the government gives priority to refund payment.
The CBIC claimed that after latest payments, as of now, refunds of only ₹3,604 crore are pending and these are mainly related with 6,421 exporters (out of about 1,85,000 exporters or 3.4 per cent). These include some ‘star exporters’ also, who have been identified as risky and hence, red flagged. Even some of the ‘star exporters’ are not traceable at the addresses given by them.
The CBIC said that while it is focusing on quick disbursal of pending refunds to exporters, it has to use data analytics to identify ‘risky’ exporter entities that take input tax credit fraudulently and monetise it by paying IGST and taking refund thereof or taking refund of the accumulated ITC. These exporters are being subjected to a KYC and verification process before the grant of refund.
‘Untraceable’ exporters
It may be noted that the verifications so far have revealed that 1,241 exporters are not traceable at their given addresses, which include 8 ‘star exporters’. In addition, adverse verification reports have been received in the case of 399 exporters, which also include 4 ‘star exporters’.
The CBIC said that since the launch of GST, 77 per cent of India’s exports are under a Letter of Undertaking (LUT), which are unaffected by the verification exercise being done by the CBIC officials. Moreover, even in respect of the exporters identified as risky, the government is taking all necessary steps to expedite the verification.
At the same time, the government remains concerned about the misuse of the facility of ITC credit and refunds by a few unscrupulous exporters.
Comments
COMMENT NOW
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.