Around 70% of the total 1.1 crores registered businesses have been filing regular GST returns within the deadline, confirmed GSTN CEO Prakash Kumar. He further added that the prevailing issue of delayed refunds to exporters who have paid integrated GST has now also been resolved completely with immediate refunds being granted to those exporters who seek to get back the IGST paid on exports.
The GSTN has been struggling with the compliance issues ever since the launch of the GST system in July 2017. Only about half of the registered 64 lakh taxpayers were filing their returns by the deadline at that time, however, the number of regular return filers has increased over the time.
“These numbers are in line with what we had in the VAT regime. Even in the case of income tax returns, there are 25 crore PANs but only over 6 crore people who actually file the returns,” said Kumar.
He further added that the refund process to exporters has also been expedited, with most of the refund applicants, who provided correct details, getting the refunds within four to five days. “Refund process for claims filed since February has largely been smooth. We have been clearing refunds every day and it has become relatively error-free,” said Kumar.
The faster refund process has also motivated many exporters to use the IGST route over the letter of undertaking route, in which they do not have to pay an integrated tax and can claim a refund of ITC. As per GST regulations, all the exports are zero-rated and refund of tax is available for all such supplies.
It is crucial for exporters to declare the correct and identical export details to the customs department and the IT department in order to get timely refunds, however, the failure to do so might lead to delay in refund processing.
Kumar accepted that the ITC route, where exporters do not have to pay integrated tax, is still not the perfect as it is not yet completely automated. Tax officials have to manually check and verify details before the refunds could be sanctioned. “We had the software for even automated ITC refund but it would work only with GSTR-2 and 3 forms, which have remained suspended. Since there is no validation with GSTR-2 and 3, the time-consuming task of manual interference is required,” Kumar added.
Earlier, the CBIC (Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs) had organized special refund campaigns, in March and early June, in order to clear the pending refunds of exporters through manual verification.
GSTIN is reportedly working on getting approvals for the new, simplified tax return-filing system which might be launched later this year.
