COVID-19: Special refund drive launched to help businesses

Ministry of Finance has launched a special refund drive, for issuance of Income Tax, GST and Customs refund to around 1 lakh business entities. This drive is launched to help and provide immediate relief to individuals and business entities including MSME businesses facing difficulties because of nationwide lockdown due to coronavirus. The total refund granted under this special drive will be approximately 18,000 crores.

Special drive for Income tax refunds:-

It has been decided that all pending income tax refunds up to Rs 5 lakh will be granted immediately. This would benefit around 14 lakhs individuals and business entities.

Special drive for refund under GST and Customs:-

In addition to income tax refunds, for granting refunds under GST and Customs, a special drive named “Special Refund and Drawback Disposal Drive” has been launched by the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC). This drive will remain in place till 30.04.2020 and all the GST refunds and drawback claims pending as on 07.04.2020 will be disposed of during the above period.

Further in this regard, CBIC also instructs its field formations that all the communication with taxpayers should be done over email (if available) and all the refund or drawback claims may be considered on merit basis. Further, all the relevant legal provisions, notifications, circulars and instructions must be followed at the time of processing of refund claims.

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