「リスクの高い輸出者」というレッテル：真の輸出者にとっての苦痛

According to Article 286(1) of Constitution of India, Export of goods and services is not subject to any taxes either by Centre or state government. Accordingly, sufficient provisions are given under CGST and IGST Act, which provides a refund of all taxes paid with respect to export. The Government of India has taken all the measures to grant hassle-free refunds to exporters and the process of granting refunds has been made fully automatic and online. 

However, through a fully automatic refund process, authorities have observed several cases where refunds are claimed by various fraudulent exporters where they claiming ITC either on the basis of ineligible documents or fraudulent documents. 

Therefore, in mid of 2019 CBIC implemented a new internal control to ensure that refund is granted only in genuine cases. CBIC started identifying risky exporters and IGST refund of such risky exporters was put on hold till detailed verification is carried out. For risky exporters, the department not only kept IGST refund in abeyance rather drawbacks of such exporters have also been put on hold which further increased the difficulty of genuine exporters. Since the implementation of this additional check, many identified risky exporters have successfully recovered their GST refund by following the set procedures. However, there are many exporters who are still waiting to receive their GST refund after being identified as Risky Exporters.  

In this article, we would briefly discuss verification procedures adopted by authorities to ensure the genuineness of refund, Challenges and difficulties being faced by many exporters who have been identified as risky exporters, and more importantly, 2-3 case studies where exporters opted to file a writ petition before Hon'ble High court and successfully granted remedy to recover their GST refund and Drawbacks along with interest.

So, if you are one of the exporters who is bearing a tag of risky exporters and your refund is put on hold by the GST Authority then this article may help you to resolve this issue.

1. Identification of Risky Exporter

• In fully automated refund process, The board identified various cases where exporterly fraudulently claimed excess refund by either of the following ways:
  • Exporters claimed ITC on basis of ineligible documents or fraudulently and utilised such excess ITC for payment of IGST on export of goods or
  • There is huge variation between the FOB value declared in the Shipping Bill and the Taxable value declared in GST Return to effect higher IGST pay out leading to encashment of credit.

• Therefore, to avoid refund to such fraud exporters, CBIC selected certain random exporters through their rigorous data analytics and Artificial Intelligence tools. However, the manner of identifying risky exporters is not very much clear to the public at large and is completely based on the Artificial Intelligence tool of the department.

2. Verification and Examination of Risky Exporter

• Accordingly, vide Circular No. 16/2019-Customs dated 17th June, 2019, CBIC specified mechanism to verify the IGST Payment for goods exported out of India. Instructions issued vide Circular No. 16/2019-Customs dated 17.06.2019 is as follows:
  • DG (System) shall identify the risky exporters on national level and shall share the details of such exporters with Risk Management Centre for Customs (RMCC) and respective Chief Commissioners of Central Tax.
  • RMCC shall insert the alert for risky exporters in system and 100% examination of all export cosignments shall be mandatory for such risky exporters. Also, IGST refund of such exporters shall remain suspended.
  • If on examination, information furnished in shipping bills tallied with export consignment then consignment will be cleared as per regular practise.
  • However, IGST refund of risky exporters shall remain suspended.
  • GST officers shall carry out the verification of IGST refund as per standard operating procedure issued by IGST policy wing. The GST formation shall furnish a report to the respective Chief Commissioner within 30 days specifying whether refund claimed is in accordance with the law or not. 
  • Chief Commissioner of Central Tax shall forward report of all cases to RMCC and concerned customs port of export within 5 working days thereafter
  • Where no malpractice is found, custom officer shall process the IGST refund to the extent verified by GST Authority. In other cases, custom officer shall not process the refund.

Click here to read more: CBIC introduces additional safeguards for verification of IGST refunds on exports with payment of tax

• As specified above, CBIC issued following standard operating procedure to be followed by exporter vide Circular No.131/1/2020-GST dated 23.01.2020:
  • Based on artificial intelligence tool and rigorous data analysis, certain exporters were taken up for detailed verification and refund scrolls of such exporters shall be kept in abeyance till the time verification report is received from field formations.
  • Export consignments of such exporters shall be subject to 100% verification.
  • To expedite the process and prevent hardship on genunine exporters, selected exporters shall be informed at earliest and such exporter shall submit the information in given format with jurisdictional CGST Authority to complete verification process. 
  • Jurisdictional CGST Officer shall complete the verification process within 14 working days. If verification is not completed within 14 working days then officer shall inform the nodal office.
  • If verification is not completed within 14 working days then exporter may escalate the matter to Principal Chief Commissioner or Chief Commissioner and he will take action within 7 working days.

Click here to read more: Standard Operating Procedure in case of alerts in IGST Refund

3. Challenges Faced by Risky Exporters

Despite being clear instructions are in place, An exporter who is bearing tag of “Risky Exporters” is facing many challenges such as :

1. No specific given criteria to identify Risky Exporter: Though the department is aware that certain exporters are claiming refunds fraudulently, still, no specific criteria or method is specified by CBIC to identify such risky exporters. Selection of exporters for detailed verification is completely based on Artificial Intelligence tools. Therefore, a genuine exporter may get the tag of “Risky Exporter” and he has to get detailed verification done for his all export consignment.

2. Timelines not adhered by GST Authorities: Refund of risky exporters are kept in abeyance till the time verification is not completed. Circular has clearly mentioned that verification and examination shall be completed within 14 working days. However, on ground reality, GST Authorities are not bothered about time lines. There are numerous exporters whose refunds are pending for more than 2 years due to pendency of action on part of GST Authorities.

3. Non responsive escalation system: Circular No. Circular No. 16/2019-Customs dated 17th June, 2019 has mentioned that if jurisdictional officers do not complete the verification process within 14 working days then matter can be escalated to Principal Chief Commissioner/Chief Commissioner and he will get the verification completed within 7 working days. However, in reality, many exporter’s escalations have gone into vain because despite writing various letters and emails to the Chief Commissioner, no action has been taken by GST Authorities.

4. Authorities changes timelines in their favour: After receiving multiple applications from exporters about delay, CBIC issued internal instructions to authorities on 20th May, 2020 informing that Principal Chief Commissioner or Chief Commissioner should review the position of all pending cases by 5th June, 2020. Instead of taking any action, CBIC granted further time to GST Authorities to complete the verification process. 

5. Never ending Verification of L1 and L2 vendors: Practically, GST Authorities are carrying out verification of L1 and L2 Vendors. L1 vendors are certain selected vendors of risky exporters and L2 vendors are further vendors of such selected vendors. In today's scenario, when material is procured throughout the country and suppliers are located all across India, collecting information and carrying out their verification of L1 and L2 vendors is an impossible or highly time taking process.

6. 「リスクの高い輸出者」と認定された後の検証プロセスに関する知識の欠如：CBIC（中央間接税関税委員会）は、すべてのリスクの高い輸出者に対して詳細な検証を行うと規定しています。しかし、その検証手続きは容易ではなく、非常に煩雑です。そのため、多くの輸出者はプロセス全体を理解できず、査定官に対して同じ情報や書類を繰り返し提出し続けています。これがNOC（無異議証明書）の取得遅延や還付の遅れを招く原因となっています。中には、査定官が求める形式で情報を提供できない輸出者もいます。

そのため、「リスクの高い輸出者」というレッテルを貼られた輸出者は、GST当局へのフォローアップに追われることになり、こうした活動すべてがビジネスに悪影響を及ぼしています。

4. 「リスクの高い輸出者」というレッテルを貼られた誠実な輸出者の苦悩

還付がいつ行われるか不透明な状況と、GST当局への絶え間ないフォローアップは、誠実な輸出者に多くの苦痛を与えています。

1. 運転資金の凍結：商品やサービスの輸出を主たる事業とする輸出者は、GSTの支払いに多額の運転資金を投じています。したがって、この金額が期限内に還付されない場合、ビジネスに悪影響を及ぼし、日々の事業運営を妨げることになります。

2. 高金利での与信枠の拡大：資金不足は、銀行からの与信枠を拡大し、高金利で借り入れることで補うしかありません。そのため、リスクの高い輸出者は、政府に資金が留保されているにもかかわらず、高い利息を支払わざるを得ません。これはビジネスにとって不必要な財務コストの増加を招きます。

3. 事業の停滞・閉鎖：IGST（統合物品サービス税）の還付が受けられないために、日々の運営資金を確保する目的で融資を申請せざるを得ないケースや、流動性の危機により事業を閉鎖せざるを得ないケースが多々あります。資金力のある事業者は生き残れるかもしれませんが、資金源が限られている輸出者は存続の危機に直面します。

4. COVID-19によるビジネスの危機：経済全体がすでに流動性の問題に苦しんでおり、COVID-19の蔓延によりビジネスはすでに大きな打撃を受けています。このような危機的状況下で、政府当局に資金が留保されることは、ビジネスを完全な閉鎖へと追い込むことにつながります。

5. 競争環境下での生存の困難さ：「リスクの高い輸出者」のレッテルを貼られていない輸出者は、GST法に基づき60日以内にIGSTの還付を受けられ、その資金を円滑な運営や事業拡大に充てることができます。対照的に、リスクの高い輸出者は、自分のお金を取り戻すために奔走しなければならず、ビジネスを円滑に進めることができません。したがって、「リスクの高い輸出者」ではない輸出者は、さまざまな市場機会を掴み、競争で優位に立つことができるのです。

6. 通常の事業運営から政府の手続きへの注力シフト：リスクの高い輸出者は、GST還付を早期に得るために、通常の事業運営から政府の手続きへと注力せざるを得ません。GST当局への定期的なフォローアップや度重なる訪問には、多大な時間とコストがかかります。

CBICが発行した通達では、誠実な輸出者が不利益を被らず、資金が無期限に凍結されることがないよう、検証プロセス全体を完了させるべき期限が明確に示されています。しかし、明確な指示があるにもかかわらず、GST当局は指定された期限を遵守しておらず、多くのリスクの高い輸出者の還付が2年以上も保留されたままになっています。

5. 司法当局による救済措置 - 事例研究

定期的なフォローアップにもかかわらず、首席税務長官や税務長官による措置が講じられなかったため、多くのリスクの高い輸出者は憲法上の救済手段に訴え、GST還付を早期に得るために高等裁判所に令状を提出しました。

ほとんどの輸出者に対して救済措置が提供されており、GST当局は高等裁判所が定めた期限内に、適用される利息を付して請求された還付金を発行せざるを得なくなりました。

以下は、高等裁判所によって輸出者に救済が提供された判例および事例研究です：

1. Aakriti International 対 インド連邦他（W.P. (C) 5557/2021）の件において、デリー高等裁判所は次のように判示しました：
   • 「リスクの高い輸出者」と認定されたことで、IGSTおよび関税還付の処理に遅延が生じている。したがって、これに関する調査は4週間以内に完了させるべきである。
2. Nagina International 対 インド連邦他（令状請願第11796/2019号）の件において、デリー高等裁判所は次のように判示しました：
   • 被告に対し、申立人のIGST還付請求を審査するよう指示し、その全額または一部が支払可能と判断された場合は、4週間以内に確実に還付金を支払うこと。
3. Bhagyanagar Copper Private Limited 対 間接税関税委員会（令状請願第15804/2021号）の件において、テランガーナ州高等裁判所は次のように判示しました：
   • 検証を所定の期限内に完了させるよう委員会から明確な指示が出されていたにもかかわらず、3ヶ月以上が経過しても、誠実な部分に関する還付申請は処理されておらず、還付も行われていない。
   • したがって、被告は遅延還付に対して第56条に基づく利息を支払う義務がある。
   • これに基づき、被告は請求されたIGST還付金、または暫定的な還付金を、本命令の写しを受領してから3週間以内に発行するよう指示された。

6. Conclusion

以上の議論を考慮すると、リスクの高い輸出者はまず検証および審査のプロセス全体を理解し、それに応じて行動する必要があります。

しかし、あらゆる努力にもかかわらず、通常のプロセスを通じてGST還付を受けられない場合、リスクの高い輸出者は長い待機時間を考慮し、憲法上の救済手段を行使して、期限付きで迅速な救済を求めて管轄の高等裁判所に令状を提出することを検討してもよいでしょう。