The Delhi Government has introduced a Grievance Redressal Mechanism to address the pending VAT refund claims.
As per Section 54 of the DOST Act, 2017, taxpayers can claim a refund of any payment and interest before the expiry of two years from the relevant date. The proper officer shall issue the order within sixty days from the date of receipt of the application, or else interest at the rate not exceeding 6% shall be payable on such refund application.
The circular issued by the State VAT department stated that “It has been observed that many refund cases are still pending in the Wards beyond the permissible time limit. In this regard, Department has been issuing Circulars from time to time for disposal of the refund application in a time-bound manner. Some of the taxpayers have also approached the Hon’ble High Court with their grievances and the Hon’ble Court has highlighted the need to decide the applications within statutory timelines. lt is therefore incumbent upon the concerned officers to ensure that the refund applications are disposed of strictly in accordance with the statutory timelines. A circular regarding time-bound disposal of GST refunds has again been issued on 04.05.0222 which needs to be complied with strictly. Similarly, the pending VAT refund applications which may have remained pending due to various reasons, have to be disposed of in a mission mode.”
The circular stated that in order to further streamline the process of disposal of refund applications and to provide a platform for the dealers/taxpayers to register their grievances related to the pending refund applications, a mechanism is being put in place wherein such dealers/taxpayers can file their grievances with the department through the DVAT Portal by filling a simple Refund Grievances Redressal Form.
Grievances received on the refund grievances redressal form shall be handled as per the process prescribed in the circular, it said.
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