RFD-01 & Related Forms Guide

RFD-01 is an essential form for claiming a refund of GST for several types of refunds.  The procedure laid down for applying for a refund under GST law is different under different scenarios, as explained in the refund process article. This article focuses on the RFD-01 form, contents, format, time limit to file, origination, prerequisites, etc.

Latest Updates on GST Refunds

05th July 2022
Taxpayers can exclude the COVID pandemic period (1st March 2020 and 28th February 2022) while calculating the time limit for filing GST refund applications under Sections 54 or 55 of the CGST Act.

1st February 2022
Budget 2022 update-
1. Section 54 is amended to provide that refund claim of any balance in the electronic cash ledger can be made in a particular form and manner prescribed.
2. The time limit to claim refund by UN agencies is now two years from last day of quarter when supply was received instead of six months.
3. The restriction to refund taxpayers for tax defaults, that earlier applied to unutilised ITC refund, is now extended to other types of refunds.
4. The relevant date to file refund claim application for supplies to SEZ is clarified in new sub-clause (ba) of clause (2) of the explanation.

1st May 2021 
Where the time limit to pass orders for rejecting any refund claim fully or partly falls between 15th April 2021 and 30th May 2021, it is extended. The extended time limit shall be later of two dates:
(1) 15 days after reply to notice OR
(2) 31st May 2021
 

What is RFD-01 and RFD-01A?

Any taxpayer can file a refund claim in form RFD-01 under GST on the GST portal. RFD-01A refers to the offline application of refund that is no longer in use. A refund will be issued only when the refund exceeds Rs.1,000 in value.
 

RFD-01 is an application for the online processing of refunds under GST. It is to be e-filed on the GST portal to claim the refund of:

• Taxes, cess and interest paid in case of zero-rated supplies (except the export of goods with tax payment).
• Balance of excess cash paid into the electronic cash ledger. 
• Unutilised Input tax credit accumulated in your electronic credit ledger due to inverted duty structure.
• Excess tax payment due to cancellation or termination of agreement or contract for the supply of service.

Whereas RFD-01A is a replica of RFD-01 that had been introduced as a temporary solution till such time the online facility is enabled for claims of refund.
 

RFD-01A is the application form for refund form under GST for manual processing, notified for certain refund cases.
 

Log in to the GST portal. Select the ‘Refund’ tab > click on the ‘Application for Refund’ option. Select the type of refund and fill in the necessary details, mostly using the offline excel tool and submit. ARN number gets generated. The officer shall process the refund within 15 days from the date of application.
 

The officer can be central tax authority or state/UT tax authority as may be notified to process refund shall be intimated through the Acknowledgement in RFD-02 or RFD-03.
 

Who should file the application in RFD-01 or RFD-01A?

In all the cases, except deemed export and SEZ supplies, the taxpayer who makes the supplies is eligible for the refund claim of accumulated ITC regarding exports (without payment of tax). Any taxpayer can claim a refund of excess cash balance in an electronic cash ledger or tax paid in excess by error.
 

Also, an unregistered person can claim the refund of excess tax payment due to cancellation or termination of agreement or contract for the supply of service.

If deemed exports and SEZ supplies, either the recipient or the supplier can apply for a refund of taxes paid. For a particular invoice of deemed exports, both the supplier and the recipient cannot apply to claim a refund. Suppose the supplier applies for a refund, then a declaration must be taken from the recipient that he is not claiming the refund against that supply.
 

Types of refunds where RFD-01/01A is applicable

The following types of refunds under GST are being processed if filed via form RFD-01: 

• IGST paid on zero-rated supplies – Exports of service (with tax payment) and supply to SEZ units or developers.
• ITC on exports of goods or services under the letter of undertaking or bond, without tax payment.
• Claims in case of deemed exports by recipients or suppliers.
• Refund claims on account of inverted duty structure.
• Excess balance in Electronic cash ledger.
• Excess tax paid erroneously.
• Refund due to assessment or provisional assessment or appeal or any other order.
• Tax paid towards intrastate supply that was later held to be interstate or vice versa.
• Refund in miscellaneous cases, to be specified while applying.
• Refund by unregistered taxpayers

The same has been presented below:

Cases where RFD-01 and RFD-01A should not be filed

RFD-01 or RFD-01A has to be filed for all cases of refund claims except the below mentioned:

• Export of goods involving payment of export duty 
• Exports of goods where IGST is paid, and shipping bill is by default considered an application for refund. 
• Cases where the supplier avails the drawback scheme of the CGST/SGST/IGST paid on the supplies
• UN or embassies and certain persons notified 
• Casual taxable persons/non-resident taxable persons 

Prerequisites for applying for a refund

In case of applying for a refund of tax paid or the accumulated ITC without payment of output tax in case of zero-rated supplies and deemed exports, the applicant should have filed the GSTR-1 and GSTR-3B of the month such supplies are made. 
 

Care is to be taken to fill up GSTR-1 for the applicable Table 6A for exports, Table 6B for supplies made to SEZ units/SEZ developer, and Table 6C for deemed exports. Also, GSTR-3B has to be filled up in Table 3.1(b) and filed in line with the GSTR-1.
 

Any mismatch found between the returns shall lead to a delay in the processing of a refund. The applicant must have the list of invoices in hand against which the refund is claimed.

As per notification no: 26/2022, when an unregistered person is claiming a GST refund on account of excess tax payment due to cancellation or termination of agreement or contract for the supply of service, they must submit the following documents:

1. A statement containing the invoice details, i.e., invoice number, date, value, tax paid, etc.
2. Copy of such invoices
3. Proof of making payment to the supplier
4. Copy of agreement, registered agreement, or contract, as applicable.
5. The letter issued by the supplier for cancellation or termination.
6. Details and proof of payment received from the supplier against cancellation or termination of the agreement.
7. Certificate from the supplier stating that:
   • He has paid tax in respect of the invoices on which the refund is being claimed, and 
   • He has not adjusted the tax against his liability by issuing a credit note; and 
   • He has not claimed and will not claim a refund of the amount of tax involved in respect of these invoices.

A Certificate by a Chartered Accountant/ Cost accountant needs to be submitted along in certain cases.

Time limit and frequency of filing RFD-01

The refund claim has to be made within two years from the relevant date in RFD-01.

The RFD-01 has to be mandatorily filed on a monthly basis, broadly for the following cases:

• Refund claims in case of zero-rated supplies.
• Refund claims in case of inverted duty structure.
• Refund claims in case of deemed exports.
• Refund of excess balance in electronic cash ledger.

RFD-01 can also be filed for multiple tax periods. A single refund application is accepted for multiple tax periods, which are in one financial year. 
 

In the case of a supply of goods to SEZ units or SEZ developers, a supplier has to file this form once the receipt of goods is confirmed by authentication from a specified officer of that zone.
 

Whereas, in the case of a supply of services to SEZ units or SEZ developers, a supplier has to file this form once the evidence of service receipt is confirmed by authentication from a specified officer of that zone.

In case of refund by unregistered taxpayer, the applicant shall calculate the two years due date to file a refund application from the date of issuance of the contract’s cancellation letter.

Format of RFD-01 and RFD-01A

The format of RFD-01 can be broken down into the following parts:

A. Basic form (Sl. No. 1-10 of the form)

B. Declarations and verification

C. Annexure-1

D. Annexure-2
 

Each part is explained as follows:
 

Basic form

(1) The GSTIN/temporary ID allotted.

(2) Legal name.

(3) Trade name, if any. 

(4) Address of principal place of business.

(5) Tax period for which the claim of refund is made, if applicable.

(6) Mention the amount of IGST, CGST and SGST, interest or cess, if any.

(7) Select the grounds for a claim of refund as per the list given.

(8) Details of the bank account into which you want the refund to be credited wherever applicable- This field is auto-populated from the registration data. So, if you want to alter the bank account, then make necessary changes in the registration data and then apply for a refund.

(9) If the documentary evidence is required to be submitted in Annexure 1 for a reason selected at (7), then select ‘Yes’. Else, select ‘No’.

(10) Verification: An authorised person has to sign this in all cases confirming the correctness of information and declarations given. 
 

The Points at 1, 2, 3, and 4 are auto-populated on the GST portal.

The format for RFD-01A was the same except that the grounds of refund covered are limited here, and the bank details and self-declaration at points (8) and (9) were not present in the form.
 

Declarations and verification

Some declarations have to be made for certain types of refund claims made by taxpayers. The declarations are required to assert that the tax burden is upon the claimant of refund, and no other person can claim.
 

Annexure-1

Different declarations in statements as documentary evidence have to be made or submitted under different refund claims. 
 

There are a total of 11 statements prescribed for different types of refund applications in RFD-01.
 

Note that the documentary evidence shall not be submitted if the amount of refund claimed falls below Rs.2 lakh. Instead, a self-declaration that the recipient of goods or services does not claim the ITC benefit is sufficient. 
 

To know more about the statements that are applicable for a particular refund type, visit our page on Declaration and Annexures to be submitted with the refund application.

Annexure-2

A Certificate issued by a Chartered Accountant/Cost Accountant needs to be annexed along with the Refund application in RFD-01/RFD-01A.

To know more about the Certificate that is required, visit our page on Declaration and Annexures to be submitted with the refund application.
 

Calculation of the refund amount

Amount of refund is usually the tax, interest or cess, if any, that is paid as per the Tax invoice in most cases.
 

Where the invoice details are amended (including export), the refund shall be allowed as per the calculation based on the amended value.
 

In case of a refund of ITC accumulated, two formulae have been prescribed.
 

Only a proportionate amount of accumulated ITC can be claimed that commensurates the value of turnover related to zero-rated supplies/inverted rated supply to the total turnover earned by the taxpayer for the period referred.

(1) Where zero-rated supplies are made without tax payment, by executing a Letter of Undertaking/bond:
 

Formula to calculate the refund amount of ITC:

Net ITC x [(Turnover of zero-rated supply of Goods + Turnover of zero-rated supply of Services)/Adjusted Total Turnover] (for the relevant period).
 

Where,

• Net ITC: Input tax credit availed on inputs and inputs services during the relevant period.
• Turnover of zero-rated supply of goods: Lower of two values:
  • Value of supply of goods during relevant period made without tax payment by executing bond/ letter of undertaking for the applicable period or 
  • 1.5 times the value of goods domestically sold by the same or a similar supplier, as declared by the supplier.
• Turnover of zero-rated supply of services: Value of supply of services during relevant periods made without tax payment by executing bond/ letter of undertaking.

In the case of  services that are zero-rated supplies, turnover includes the advance received in the prior period for which services are now provided and reduced by advance received for which services are yet to be provided for the relevant period

• Adjusted total turnover: Total turnover in a state/Union Territory, turnover of zero-rated and non-zero-rated supply of services, excluding value exempt supplies for the relevant period
• Relevant period: period for which the claim of refund is made or filed. It differs for each claim of refund.
•  

(2) Where there is an inverted duty structure, i.e. the rate of tax on Inward supplies exceed the Outward supplies:
 

Formula to calculate the Maximum Refund amount of ITC:
 

[Net ITC x (Turnover of inverted rated supply of goods and services/adjusted total turnover)]- Output tax payable on the inverted rated supply of goods and services
 

Where,

• Net ITC: Input tax credit availed on inputs used in the supply of inverted rated goods and services during the relevant period.
• Turnover of inverted rated supply of goods: Turnover for that supply of goods and services that fall under the Inverted rated category.
• Adjusted total turnover: Total turnover in a state/Union Territory, turnover of zero-rated and non-zero-rated supply of services, excluding value exempt supplies for the relevant period.
• Output tax payable on the inverted rated supply of goods and services: Tax liability for the relevant period payable on the inverted rated supply of goods and services.

What is RFD-01B and RFD-01W?

RFD-01B, also known as ‘Refund order details’, is a summary of refund orders passed after the entire refund process is completed. 

RFD-01W refers to the form used by an applicant to withdraw the refund application earlier made.

Follow-up after filing the refund application

Once the application is submitted in RFD-01, then a debit entry to the extent of refund amount applied shall be made automatically in the electronic credit ledger of the claimant. Note the debit reference number for future use.
 

Within 15 days of receipt, the GST officer will check the application for its completeness in all aspects and intimate the claimant in RFD-03 if anything was missed out to be declared or annexed, requesting for a fresh application.
 

Exception: In case of a refund claim of balance in an electronic cash ledger, the scrutiny will not apply.
 

On successfully applying for a refund, an acknowledgement in RFD-02 shall be made available on the GST portal indicating the Application Reference Number (ARN), period of the refund claim and date of filing RFD-01. 
 

The GST officer has 60 days from the date of receipt of RFD-02 on filing refund application complete in all respects, to pass the order of sanction of refund claim.
 

Who will be the GST officer for refund sanction?

The GST officer assigned for refund is mentioned on the applicant’s RFD-02. Note that the refund processing of all taxes (IGST, CGST and SGST/UTGST) can be done by the central/state tax authority. But the payment of the refund will be done by the respective central tax authority for IGST/CGST and state tax authority for SGST/UTGST. For this purpose, the GST officer who issued the refund order may communicate with the respective tax authorities of central/state/UT to initiate payment within seven working days of issuing orders.
 

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