Exporters to follow Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) issued by CBIC

The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC), vide Circular No.131/1/2020 GST dated January 23, 2020, has issued Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for exporters to follow.

Here is a brief summary of the Circular below:

1. CBIC, on verification, has found that many exporters were non-existent, and it is noticed that ITC was taken by the exporters based on fake invoices to pay IGST on exports;
   
2. The CBIC has taken measures using rigorous data analytics and Artificial Intelligence tools to mitigate the risk. Based on these analytics, individual exporters will be taken up for further verification. The refund scrolls in such cases will be kept in abeyance till the verification is received from the field formations. Moreover, the export consignments or shipments of concerned exporters will be subjected to 100% examination at the customs port;
   
3. To protect genuine exporters from the hardships of these measures, exporters whose scrolls have been kept in abeyance for verification should be informed at the earliest possible either by the jurisdictional CGST or by Customs;
   
4. To expedite verification, the exporters on being informed in this regard or on their own volition should fill in the information in the prescribed format (i.e., ‘Annexure A’ provided with this Circular). Nevertheless, the jurisdictional authorities must adhere to timelines prescribed for verification;
5. Jurisdiction CGST office shall complete the verification within 14 working days of the exporter furnishing of information in proforma. The jurisdiction officer shall bring it to the notice of a nodal cell If the verification is not completed within this period. Here it is to be constituted in the Jurisdictional Pr. Chief Commissioner/Chief Commissioner Office;
6. The exporter may also escalate the situation to the Jurisdictional Pr. Chief Commissioner or Chief Commissioner of Central Tax by sending an e-mail after 14 working days from the submission date of details in the given format;
7. The Jurisdictional Pr. Chief Commissioner or Chief Commissioner of Central Tax should take appropriate action to get the verification completed within the next seven working days;
8. The exporter may register his/her grievance at www.cbic.gov.in/issue by sharing all required details like GSTIN, IEC, shipping bill number, the port of export & CGST details in case any refund stays pending for more than one month.

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