Alternate mechanism facility for exporters to claim IGST refunds in cases of mismatch extended

In light of the ongoing COVID 19 pandemic, the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) has issued a circular extending the deadline to access the alternate mechanism facility for exporters to claim IGST refunds in cases of mismatch in invoice number in GST returns and shipping bills filed with customs till December 31, 2019. Currently, exporters are facing hardships due to SB005 errors. SB005 is an error shown for the mismatch between invoice number in shipping bill and in GSTR-1. Because of this error, the refund claim by the entity will be delayed until the error is corrected. While the CBIC is doing its best to process GST refund claims, an SB005 error needs to be corrected before being processed. To facilitate the refund process for businesses, the Government has announced the extension of SB005 error correction in the Customs EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) system for shipping bills dated up to December 31, 2019. Initially, this mechanism was only available for shipping bills filed till December 31, 2017, but it has been extended to help businesses in this difficult time. Additionally, online rectification of error is not always feasible for business entities. As such, the CBIC has provided an alternative mechanism with an officer interface temporarily.