COVID-19: CBIC announces 'Special Refund and Drawback Disposal Drive' to provide immediate relief to MSME

In the wake of the outbreak of pandemic COVID-19, the Central Board Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) on Thursday notified the “Special Refund and Drawback Disposal Drive” to provide immediate relief to MSME exporters.

Central Board Indirect Taxes & Customs (CBIC) with the objective of priority processing and the refund of all the drawback claims started the “Special Refund and Drawback Disposal Drive” so as to provide the immediate relief to all the business entities, especially MSMEs, in these difficult times.

“The CBIC has taken a number of measures to mitigate the hardship caused by the COVID-19 pandemic to the trade and industry and other stakeholders. These measures include 24x7 Customs functioning, single-window helpdesk on the CBIC website, waiver of late fee for delays in filing Bills of Entry, temporarily dispensing with submission of bonds, wherever required, etc. Continuing with these trade facilitation measures, it has now been decided that all pending Customs refund and drawback claims shall be expeditiously processed in order to provide immediate relief to the business entities, especially MSMEs, in these difficult times,” the circular said.

The circular clarified that the “Special Refund and Drawback Disposal Drive” will be effective until April 30, 2020.

“In the context of the COVID-19 situation and with a view to providing immediate relief to the business entities and individuals. It has been decided to issue all the pending income-tax refunds up to Rs. 5 Lakh, immediately. This would benefit around 14 lakh taxpayers. It has also been decided to issue all pending GST and Custom Refunds which would provide benefit to around 1 Lakh business entities, including MSME. Thus the total refund granted will be approximately Rs. 18,000 crore,” said the Department of Revenue under the Ministry of Finance during the press release.

To Read the full text of the Instructions CLICK HERE