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Circular No. 110/29/2019 - GST
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F.No. CBEC – 20/06/03/2019 – GST
Government of India
Ministry of Finance
Department of Revenue
Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs
GST Policy Wing
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New Delhi, the 3
rd
October, 2019
To
The Pr. Chief Commissioners / Chief Commissioners / Principal Commissioners / Commissioners
of Central Tax (All)
The Principal Director Generals / Director Generals (All)
Madam / Sir,
Subject: Eligibility to file a refund application in FORM GST RFD-01 for a period and category
under which a NIL refund application has already been filed – regarding
Several registered persons have inadvertently filed a NIL refund claim for a certain period under
a particular category on the common portal in FORM GST RFD-01A/RFD-01 in spite of the fact that
they had a genuine claim for refund for that period under the said category. Once a NIL refund claim is
filed, the common portal does not allow the registered person to re-file the refund claim for that period
under the said category. Representations have been received requesting that registered persons may be
allowed to re-file the refund claim for the period and the category under which the NIL claim has
inadvertently been filed. The matter has been examined and in order to clarify this issue and to ensure
uniformity in the implementation of the provisions of the law across field formations, the Board, in
exercise of its powers conferred by section 168 (1) of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017
(hereinafter referred to as “CGST Act”), hereby clarifies the issues raised as below:
2. Whenever a registered person proceeds to claim refund in FORM GST RFD-01A/RFD-01
under a category for a particular period on the common portal, the system pops up a message box asking
whether he wants to apply for ‘NIL’ refund for the selected period. This is to ensure that all refund
applications under a particular category are filed chronologically. However, certain registered persons
may have inadvertently opted for filing of ‘NIL’ refund. Once a ‘NIL’ refund claim has been filed for
a period under a particular category, the common portal does not allow the registered person to re-file
the refund claim for that period under the said category.
3. It is now clarified that a registered person who has filed a NIL refund claim in FORM GST
RFD-01A/RFD-01 for a given period under a particular category, may again apply for refund for the
said period under the same category only if he satisfies the following two conditions:
a. The registered person must have filed a NIL refund claim in FORM GST RFD-01A/RFD-01
for a certain period under a particular category; and

Circular No. 110/29/2019 - GST
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b. No refund claims in FORM GST RFD-01A/RFD-01 must have been filed by the registered
person under the same category for any subsequent period.
It may be noted that condition (b) shall apply only for refund claims falling under the following
categories:
i. Refund of unutilized input tax credit (ITC) on account of exports without payment of tax;
ii. Refund of unutilized ITC on account of supplies made to SEZ Unit/SEZ Developer without
payment of tax;
iii. Refund of unutilized ITC on account of accumulation due to inverted tax structure;
In all other cases, registered persons shall be allowed to re-apply even if the condition (b) is not satisfied
4. Registered persons satisfying the above conditions may file the refund claim under “Any Other”
category instead of the category under which the NIL refund claim has already been filed. However,
the refund claim should pertain to the same period for which the NIL application was filed. The
application under the “Any Other” category shall also be accompanied by all the supporting documents
which would be required to be otherwise submitted with the refund claim.
5. On receipt of the claim, the proper officer shall calculate the admissible refund amount as per
the applicable rules and in the manner detailed in para 3 of Circular No.59/33/2018-GST dated
04.09.2018, wherever applicable. Further, upon scrutiny of the application for completeness and
eligibility, if the proper officer is satisfied that the whole or any part of the amount claimed is payable
as refund, he shall request the taxpayer in writing, if required, to debit the said amount from his
electronic credit ledger through FORM GST DRC-03. Once the proof of such debit is received by the
proper officer, he shall proceed to issue the refund order in FORM GST RFD-06 and the payment
order in FORM GST RFD-05.
6. It is requested that suitable trade notices may be issued to publicize the contents of this circular.
7. Difficulty, if any, in implementation of the above instructions may please be brought to the
notice of the Board. Hindi version would follow.

(Yogendra Garg)
Principal Commissioner (GST)

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