How to claim refund for reverse ITC in import

[Asked by Guest]

As per the prevalent practise, customs duty along with IGST is paid by the importer himself at the time of importing the goods. The procedure for filing refund application requires the importer to enter the Purchase details in the Excel Utility. However, the said Utility mandatorily requires the GSTIN of the Supplier, obtaining which is not possible in case of import since the Supplier is a foreign entity and as such there is no mechanism for establishing nexus between the customs EDI and GSTN.

Further, in the absence of any provision for filing returns by Customs Department through GSTR-1 or any other mode, the taxes paid by the importer does not reflect in the GSTR-2A therefore, the same fails to get validated under GSTR-3B as well. please suggest how to claim the amount.

AI Summary

Refund of unutilized input tax credit blocked by validation gaps between customs records and GST returns, hindering importers' claims.
Importers who pay IGST at import cannot supply a foreign supplier GSTIN required by the refund excel utility; customs do not file GSTR-1 entries so taxes paid on imports do not appear in GSTR-2A, causing RFD-01A validation failures. Notification guidance permits using the recipient's GSTIN as supplier GSTIN for imports/reverse-charge supplies, but portal/utility rejection and GSTR-1/GSTR-2A reconciliation errors persist, evidencing a gap between customs EDI and GSTN processes that blocks online refund claims.