The Goods and Services Tax Network (GSTN) said on Sunday that it has introduced a utility Table 6A in the Form GSTR-1 used by exporters to claim refunds.

"Table 6A of Form GSTR1 has been introduced on the GST portal," GSTN said in a statement.

Table 6A of Form GSTR1 allows taxpayers to file export related data for the period concerned that permits processing of the tax refund on the basis of declaration made under Form GSTR 3B and Table 6A of GSTR-1.

An exporter can claim refund of Integrated GST (IGST) paid at the time of export by filling the details of the shipping bill and tax paid GST invoice in his Form GSTR1 in the relevant month.

The shipping bill filed by an exporter with customs authorities is considered to be an application for refund of the integrated tax paid on the goods exported out of India.

The GSTN said that this functionality has been made available to enable exporters to file for refund as the dates for filing of GSTR-1 for August onwards have not yet been notified and the form has not been filed.

"Every registered taxable person who has made exports on payment of IGST, other than an input service distributor or compounding taxpayer or TDS deductor or TCS collector can file Table 6A of Form GSTR-1 electronically on the GST Portal" GSTN Chief Executive Prakash Kumar said.

The table can be filed from the returns section of the GST Portal.

The refund amount would be paid either through a credit to the exporter's bank via ECS or by cheque.

In a relief to exporters, the government last month had announced that it would immediately refund exporters for the month of July and August through cheques from October 10 and October 18, respectively.

Following a meeting, the GST Council decided that this would be an interim relief, and as a long term measure e-wallets will be created for all exporters by April 1, 2018, to carry forward the refund process.