On Thursday, GST Network (GSTN), the IT backbone of the Goods and Services Tax system, unveiled an online refund process.

In a statement, GSTN said that with the deployment of online refund functionality, taxpayers can now file refund application (in RFD 01 form) easily and tax officers can process the same online.

All communications between taxpayers and tax officers will also be online. The online refund process has become effective on the GST portal from 25 September 2019.

Earlier, the refund processing was done for both Central and State GST by one tax authority to whom the taxpayer was assigned administratively but disbursement was done by accounting authorities of central and state tax departments separately, causing a delay.

The new system has done away with sharing of sanction order with counterparty accounting authority, thus reducing process time. After processing is completed by the tax officer, the sanctioned amount will get credited to the bank account of the taxpayer through PFMS System, it said.

Taxpayers will be able to view the various stages of processing of their refund application on the GST Portal and can give replies to notices, if any, online over the portal.

At important stages of the refund processing, taxpayers will also be given information via SMS and e-mail. It will now be done from one disbursement authority i.e. PFMS unlike the earlier method where sanction was done by one authority but payment was made by State and Central Authorities separately.

Meanwhile, all refund applications filed before 26 September 2019 will be processed manually.