Tax Refund Scheme Benefits Extended To All Export Goods

With effect from Friday, tax refund scheme RoDTEP has been extended to all goods, the government said on Thursday, providing relief to exporters.

In March, the government approved the scheme for Remission of Duties and Taxes on Exported Products (RoDTEP) for the reimbursement of taxes and duties to exporters, with a view to give a boost to the country's dwindling outbound shipments.

"Taking a major step to boost exports, the government has decided to extend the benefit of the scheme for RoDTEP to all export goods with effect from January 1, 2021," the finance ministry said in a statement.

It said the scheme would refund to exporters the embedded central, state and local duties and taxes that were so far not being rebated or refunded and were, therefore, placing India's exports at a disadvantage.

"The refund would be credited in an exporter's ledger account with customs and used to pay basic customs duty on imported goods. The credits can also be transferred to other importers," it added.

It added that the RoDTEP rates would be notified shortly by the Department of Commerce, based on the recommendation of a committee chaired by G K Pillai, former commerce and home secretary.

The final report of the committee is expected shortly, it said.

"An exporter desirous of availing the benefit of the RoDTEP scheme shall be required to declare his intention for each export item in the shipping bill or bill of export," the statement said.