Refund.

20. (1) If any person has charged any amount purported to be tax in excess of the tax leviable, no order allowing refund of the excess amount shall be passed in his favour by any authority under this Act or by any court unless he refunds such amount to those from whom it was charged, and where charged from a VAT dealer, the input tax shall be duly adjusted.

(2) No refund of input tax shall be admissible to a VAT dealer except –

(a) in respect of input tax relating to the goods which have been sold in the course of export of goods out of the territory of India or have been used in manufacture and the manufactured goods have been sold in the course of export of goods out of the territory of India, in full; and

(b) in respect of input tax relating to the goods which have been sold in the State or in the course of inter- State trade or commerce or have been used in manufacture and the manufactured goods have been sold in the State or in the course of inter-State trade or commerce, only to the extent of such input tax exceeding the tax including the central sales tax calculated on sale of goods on account of difference in rate of tax between the input tax and the tax calculated on sales, and the balance input tax after reducing therefrom the tax including the central sale tax levied on the sale or purchase of goods, as the case may be, shall be carried over for adjustment with future tax liability.

(3) A VAT dealer may seek refund by making an application containing the prescribed particulars accompanied with the prescribed documents in the prescribed manner to the assessing authority who shall, after examination of the application, allow provisionally refund to the dealer.

(4) Where the assessing authority finds on assessment of a dealer that he has paid any amount in excess of tax, interest or penalty assessed or imposed on him under this Act, it shall allow refund of the excess amount or allow the same to be carried forward for adjustment with future tax liability, as the case may be.

(5) Any amount refundable to any person as a result of an order passed by any court, appellate authority or revising authority, shall be refunded to him on an application containing the prescribed particulars accompanied with the prescribed documents made in the prescribed manner to the prescribed authority.

(6) The amount refundable under the foregoing provisions of this section to any person shall be subject to the approval in the prescribed manner of the prescribed authority who may, by order in writing passed after providing opportunity of being heard to the affected person, change the amount of refund or order that no refund is due.

(7) Before any refund is given to any person under this Act it shall be first adjusted with any amount due from him under this Act or the Central Act for any period and the balance, if any, only shall be refunded to him.

(8) Any amount ultimately found due to any person, which he paid as a result of an order passed under this Act, shall be refunded to him with simple interest at the rate of one per cent per month for the period from the date of payment to the date when refund is given to him.

(9) Any amount, not falling within sub-section (8), refunded after a period of sixty days from the date of making an application under sub-section (5) shall carry with it simple interest at the rate of one per cent per month for the period from the date of making the application to the date when the refund is made.

(10) Any amount due to a dealer under sub-section (4) but not refunded to him within sixty days from the date of passing the order allowing the refund, shall carry with it simple interest at the rate of one per cent per month for the period from the date of passing the order allowing the refund to the date when the refund is made.

(11) Where any question arises as to any period to be excluded for the purposes of calculation of interest payable under sub-section (9) or sub-section (10) because the delay for the period in question has been due to the fault of the assessee entitled to the refund, such question shall, after giving the assessee a reasonable opportunity of being heard, be determined by the Commissioner by an order in writing.