Circular No. 188/20/2022 dated 27 December 2022

Key Pointers – 

• The unregistered person, who wants to file an application for refund under sub-section (1) of section 54 of CGST Act, shall obtain a temporary registration on the common portal using his Permanent Account Number (PAN).
• The application for refund shall be filed in FORM GST RFD-01 on the common portal under the category ‘Refund for unregistered person’. The applicant shall upload statement 8 (in pdf format) and all the requisite documents as per the provisions of sub-rule (2) of rule 89 of the CGST Rules. 
• The applicant shall also upload the certificate issued by the supplier along with the refund application and other required documents to support his claim. Separate applications for refund have to be filed in respect of invoices issued by different suppliers.
• Accordingly, the refund claim can be filed by the unregistered persons only in those cases where at the time of cancellation/termination of agreement/contract for supply of services, the time period for issuance of credit note under section 34 of the CGST Act has already expired.
• The relevant date in respect of cases of refund by a person other than supplier is the date of receipt of goods or services or both by such person in terms of provisions of clause (g) in Explanation (2) under section 54 of the CGST Act.
• In respect of cases where the supplier and the unregistered person (recipient) have entered into a long-term contract/ agreement for the supply, with the provision of making payment in advance or in installments date of issuance of letter of cancellation of the contract/ agreement for supply by the supplier will be considered as the date of receipt of the services by the applicant.
• The proper officer shall scrutinize the application with respect to completeness and eligibility of the refund claim to his satisfaction and issue the refund sanction order in FORM GST RFD-06 accordingly.