Things to know for IGST Refund against Exports of Goods from India with Error Code

As per CGST Rules, refund of IGST is not possible to an exporter if:

They have availed of duty drawback on CGST, SGST or IGST. However, they may claim a refund of IGST if they have availed of drawback on basic customs duty
They obtained Inputs at a concessional rate of 0.1%. In such a case, export cannot be with payment of IGST but must be executed through LUT/bond
They imported inputs under the Advance Authorization scheme. Here too, the final product must be exported under LUT/bond and not with payment of IGST. (Advance Authorization is an export incentive that allows duty-free import of inputs required in making products for export)

Also reference may be taken from the Board Circular No. 16/2019-Customs. The Customs officer at the port of export shall proceed to process the IGST refund as per the instructions. Circular may be refer from the CBIC website (www.cbic.gov.in).

IGST refund claim gets stuck if-

Non-transmission of data: As mentioned above, GSTN won’t transmit data to Icegate if the details in forms GSTR-1 and GSTR-3B don’t match.

Data mismatch on Icegate: If Icegate finds a mismatch between the returns data transmitted by GSTN and the shipping bill details, you will receive one of the following error codes in response to your application:

Response Code Response Description Contact Person

SB000 Successful Kindly contact custom location to scroll generation
SB006: Gateway EGM not available. If the EGM is not filed/ filed incorrectly, supplementary EGM needs to be filed by Shipping Line and approved by Gateway Port Officer. If the EGM is already filed, please revalidate the EGM from respective Custom Location.
SB002: EGM not filed : Exporter may approach the Shipping Lines to file the EGM immediately. If EGM is already filed by shipping Line correctly, Please contact Customs location to Revalidate EGM by EGM Officer.
SB001 Invalid SB Details For any further help on how to amend an invoice on GST System, please contact the GST Helpdesk. Your Shipping Bill validation is failed at ICEGATE System with error code SB001 – the combination of SB Number, SB
Date and Port Code in the invoice transmitted from GST System doesn’t match the details given in the shipping bill. You may amend the invoice details on the GST System.
SB005 Shipping Bill’s have been rejected with error code SB005 (Invalid Invoice Number). You are advised to refer the Customs Circular Board`s Circulars 5/2018-Cus. dated 23.02.201808/2018 and Circular No. 05 /2021-Customs dated 17.02.2021 and approach respective Customs Location for manual validation of Shipping Bills.
SB104 Port code is not valid. Contact GSTN helpdesk
SB003 Invalid GSTN ID Contact GSTN helpdesk
SB009 SB is Cancelled Kindly contact to respective location
SB005, SBV00 Manually validated Kindly contact custom location to scroll generation
SB004, SBV00 Manually validated Kindly contact custom location to scroll generation

When all data points match, Icegate returns an SB000 (Successfully Validated) response code and assigns an IGST scroll number to the eligible shipping bill. You can use this number to check the status of your claim on Icegate on IGST Scroll Sanctioned Status.

Export with payment of IGST

Exporters can claim the refund of IGST paid at the time of export. The GST refund process for exports in case of goods begins by taking reference to a primary document known as a shipping bill. The shipping bill and other export-related documents should be filed on the Indian Customs Electronic Commerce Gateway (ICEGATE).
GSTR-1: GST refund process for exports continues on the GST portal in the form GSTR-1. These details are declared in GSTR-1 under Table ‘6A – Exports Invoices’. The details required in this table are as follows:

Invoice date
Port code
Shipping bill no./bill of export no.
Shipping bill date/bill of export date
Total invoice value and taxable value
GST payment (‘With Payment of Tax’ needs to be selected)
Whether the supply is eligible for tax at a differential percentage, as notified by the government
The tax amount auto-populated but can be edited

Care must be taken to ensure that all the details declared in this table match with the corresponding details declared in the shipping bill. In the case of export of services, fields at 2, 3, and 4 will be left blank. In case of deemed exports, the invoice will be uploaded as a normal B2B invoice in Tables 4A, 4B, 4C, 6B, 6C – B2B invoices. When entering invoice details, the checkbox for ‘Deemed exports’, ‘SEZ Supplies without payment’ or ‘Sale from bonded warehouse’ may be selected, as applicable.

GSTR-3B: Further, the GST refund process for exports will involve declaration in GSTR 3B too. The relevant amounts need to be filled up in Table 3.1(b)- ‘Outward taxable supplies (zero-rated)’. The IGST amount entered here should be either equal to or greater than the total IGST filled in Table 6A of the corresponding GSTR-1.

Form GST RFD-01: GST refund process for exports will need the filing of a form RFD-01 (completely online) in particular cases only.

(1) Export of Goods: In the case of export of goods with payment of tax, there is no separate refund application required as the shipping bill itself will be treated as the refund application. The details entered in Form GSTR-1 will be matched with the details mentioned in the shipping bill as filed with ICEGATE. The ICEGATE will then process the refund and credit the same to the bank account as mentioned by the taxpayer on its portal.