The GST Council has recommended cutting the time the tax department has to acknowledge a GST refund application, or issue a deficiency memo, from 15 days to 10 days. This is a recommendation, not a rule in force. The CBIC-hosted refund rules text still gives 15 days, and as of 9 October 2026 we could not locate a notification bringing the 10-day period into effect. Reports that the limit has “been lowered” run ahead of the law.
What the Council recommended
The acknowledgement change sits inside a two-phase plan to move refund processing onto system-based automation, as set out in the Press Information Bureau’s summary of the GST Council’s recommendations. Under the proposal, the system would treat a refund application as acknowledged if the proper officer issues neither an acknowledgement nor a deficiency memo within 10 days. The Council recommended amending section 54 of the CGST Act, 2017 and the relevant CGST Rules to make this happen.
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Phase 1
- Full refund of excess balances in the electronic cash ledger would be sanctioned automatically by the system.
- The acknowledgement or deficiency-memo window would drop from 15 days to 10 days, with deemed acknowledgement if neither document is issued in that period.
- For claims relating to zero-rated supplies and inverted duty structure, 90% of the claimed amount would be sanctioned provisionally by the system, without officer intervention, based on system identification and risk evaluation.
Phase 2
- After verification by the system, acknowledgement would be automated.
- In acknowledged cases, the system would sanction the full refund for zero-rated supplies after adjusting pending dues, if any, based on system risk identification and evaluation.
The two phases differ on three points: whether the action is automated, which refund category it covers, and whether the sanction is provisional or full.
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| Measure | Phase | Refund category | Provisional or full | Who or what acts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full sanction of excess balance | 1 | Excess electronic cash-ledger balance | Full | System, automatic |
| Acknowledgement or deficiency memo within 10 days, otherwise deemed acknowledged | 1 | Scope as summarised in the Council release | Not applicable | Proper officer; system deems acknowledgement if neither issued |
| Provisional sanction of 90% of claim | 1 | Zero-rated supplies and inverted duty structure | Provisional (90%) | System, risk-based, without officer intervention |
| Automated acknowledgement | 2 | Claims passing system verification | Not applicable | System, after verification |
| Full sanction for zero-rated supplies | 2 | Acknowledged zero-rated claims | Full, after adjusting pending dues | System, based on risk identification |
Acknowledgement is not payment
The headline concerns the acknowledgement clock, not the date money reaches the applicant. Acknowledgement is the procedural step that confirms an application has been accepted for processing. A 90% provisional sanction is a separate, risk-dependent measure, and the full sanction for zero-rated claims arrives only in Phase 2 and only after pending dues are adjusted. The Council release does not give a statistical estimate of how much faster refunds would be processed or what taxpayers would save, so the 10-day figure should not be read as a promised payment timeline.
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Where the change stands today
Applicants generally file electronically through the Common Portal using FORM GST RFD-01. The CBIC refund rules page still states that applications other than electronic cash-ledger claims are scrutinised within 15 days. Until an amendment to section 54 and the CGST Rules is enacted and brought into force, the 15-day text governs.
To check whether the change has taken effect:
- Open the CBIC refund rules page and compare the acknowledgement timeline with the 15-day wording.
- Look for a notification under the CGST Act or amended CGST Rules that changes section 54 or the acknowledgement period.
- Confirm the effective date stated in any notification, because a recommendation can be approved and still take effect later.
- Until that confirmation, plan refund follow-ups against the 15-day period.
Who would notice first
The Council release names three refund classes: excess electronic cash-ledger balances, zero-rated supplies, and inverted duty structure claims. Exporters and businesses with inverted duty structures are the clearest beneficiaries of the zero-rated and provisional-sanction measures. Taxpayers seeking excess ledger balances fall under the Phase 1 automatic sanction.
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Moneycontrol, reporting on 9 October 2026, said the measures may particularly help exporters and businesses under an inverted duty structure. It reported that 65% of refund claims relate to exports or inverted rates and 19% relate to cash-ledger balances. These figures are Moneycontrol’s; they do not appear in the official release, and we have not verified their underlying data.
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- Amend FORM GST RFD-01 to capture information in system-readable form and drop scanned-document uploads for zero-rated-supply and inverted-duty-structure claims. Until the form is amended, existing upload requirements apply.
- Revise the maximum turnover value used in the zero-rated goods refund calculation.
- Apply a combined ₹1,000 refund threshold across CGST, SGST/UTGST and IGST, as described in the release.
Why the government frames it this way
The Press Information Bureau’s summary says: “These measures will streamline and expedite refund processing through greater automation and reduced manual intervention, thereby facilitating timely sanction of eligible refunds and reducing compliance burden for taxpayers as well as interface with the department.”
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Moneycontrol attributes the following remarks to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman at the 57th GST Council press briefing: “There’s nothing more to look at on rates right now. Don’t think there are any major outstanding issues which are fundamental to ease of doing business, rates and processes.” Moneycontrol also reports that the 57th Council meeting approved these process reforms on 8 October 2026, which it describes as the second phase of GST 2.0.
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