Availability of refunds under section 55
Availability of refunds under section 55

Read below to know everything about the availability of refunds under section 55 in brief.

Refunds under section 55

Section 55 of the CGST (Central Goods and Services Tax) Act, 2017 provides for the refund of taxes paid on the notified supplies of goods or services or both received by the notified organisations. The Government may,
on the recommendations of the Council, by notification, specify any specialised agency of the United Nations Organisation or any Multilateral Financial Institution and Organisation notified under the United Nations (Privileges and Immunities) Act, 1947 (46 of 1947), Consulate or Embassy of foreign countries and any other person or class of persons as may be specified in this behalf.

The application under section 54

Section 54 (2) provides that the person notified under section 55 may make an application for such refund, in such form and manner as may be prescribed, before the expiry of six months from the last day of the quarter in which such supply was received.

However, the facility for filing the claim of refunds under section 55 of the said Act has been made available on the common portal recently and thus the Notification No. 20/2018 – Central Tax  provides that the application for refund of tax paid by on inward supplies of goods or services or both by specified persons shall be made before the expiry of eighteen months from the last date of the quarter in which such supply was received.

Notification No. 20/2018 – Central Tax can be read below and downloaded from here.

Persons notified under Section 55

Following is the list of persons notified under Section 55:

  1. Vide Notification No.6/2017-Central Tax (Rate), government has notified  Canteen Stores Department (CSD), under the Ministry of Defence, as a person who shall be entitled to claim a refund of fifty per cent. of the applicable central tax paid by it on all inward supplies of goods received by it for the purposes of subsequent supply of such goods to the Unit Run Canteens of the CSD or to the authorized customers of the CSD.Notification No.6/2017-Central Tax (Rate) can be read below and downloaded from here:
  2. Vide Notification No. 16/2017-Central Tax (Rate), Central government notified the following under section 55:
    (i) United Nations or a specified international organisation; and
    (ii) Foreign diplomatic mission or consular post in India, or diplomatic agents or career
    consular officers posted therein.
    However, the benefit is subject to fulfillement of certain conditions specified in the notifications. Notification No. 16/2017-Central Tax (Rate) can be read below and downloaded from here.

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