GST Refund for Deemed Export: Amendments Introduced in Refund Filing Process by GSTN

The Goods and Services Tax Network (GSTN) recently released an official notification on May 08, 2025, discussing the key amendments introduced in the refund filing process under the category “On account of Refund by Recipient of Deemed Export.” The following key changes have been introduced in the refund filing process:

1. Under the category of “On account of Refund by Recipient of deemed export,” refund applications are now not required to be filed in sequential order of tax period, which means taxpayers are now not required to choose “From Period” and “To Period” during filing the return application.

2. Taxpayers should make sure all the returns (GSTR-1, GSTR-3B, etc.) are filed within the due date of the refund application.

3. The table “Amount Eligible for Refund” has been amended under the mentioned category “On account of Refund by Recipient of Deemed Export”.

(a) Column 1, ‘Balance in ECL at the time of filing of refund application’ of the return application. This column shows the balance available under various heads in the Electronic Credit Ledger at the time of filing the tax return application. It will be autofilled.

(b) Column 2 ‘Net Input Tax Credit (ITC) of Deemed Exports (as per uploaded invoices)’ of the return application. In this column, the ITC amount you’re claiming will be automatically filled in, based on the invoices you uploaded in Statement 5B, under each tax type.

(c) Column 3 ‘Refund amount as per the uploaded invoices’ of the return application. This column indicates the total amount of ITC claimed under all tax types (IGST/CGST/SGST/UT) as per the invoices uploaded by the taxpayer in Statement 5B and will be downward editable.

(d) Column 4 ‘Eligible Refund Amount’ of the return application. In this column maximum amount of ITC that is available for a refund claim will be auto-filled. It will be auto-calculated as per the debit order as mentioned in Circular No. 125/44/2019-GST dated 18.11.2019.

(e) Column 5 ‘Refund amount not eligible as insufficient balance in the ECL (5)’ of the return application. This column shows the difference between the amount of ITC claimed and the total amount of ITC available in the electronic credit ledger under various tax types.

4. The refund process has been improved to help taxpayers get the maximum refund based on their uploaded invoices. Now, even if there isn’t enough balance in each individual tax type (IGST, CGST, SGST), the system will compare the total claim with the total available ITC across all tax types to allow a higher refund.

5. Taxpayers should take note of these updates. If you face any issues while applying for a refund, you can report the problem on the GST portal at selfservice.gstsystem.in.