Invoices not transmitted to ICEGATE  because of non-authentication of Aadhaar/e-KYC documents not uploaded

ICEGATE- Indian Customs Electronic Gateway (ICEGATE) is the national portal of Indian Customs of Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC). It was introduced with a purpose to facilitate Trading Partners that includes trade and cargo carriers and other clients of the Custom Department in India by providing them with E-Filing Services. Also, for the exporters paying IGST, it is necessary to have an ICEGATE Registration for claiming refund. However, many times it might happen that the Invoices you upload might not be transmitted to the ICEGATE leaving you wondering What might be the reason of Non-Transmission of the Invoices to the ICEGATE? What is the solution to get your IGST Refund?- Well, let’s find out in this article.

Registration via ICEGATE

It is necessary for an individual to register online with the ICEGATE. There are a number of services that are provided by the ICEGATE which includes tracking and documentation services that are required by exporters. The ICEGATE Portal is also a medium of communication and documentation between various departments and other regulatory and licensing bodies. The number of functions/services offered by the ICEGATE are mentioned below:

• Electronic filing of Declaration of import i.e. Bill of Entry
• Electronic filing of Declaration of Export i.e. Shipping Bill
• E-payment of customs duties
• “Common signer utility” to sign the customs documents
• Online submission of supporting documents via e-Sanchit
• Electronically claiming IGST refund
• Internal correspondence with partner agencies such as the RBI, banks, DGFT, DGCIS, ministries, and directorates, and other government agencies
• Consol filing by airline and shipping agents
• Handling of all electronic documents and messages before they are further processed by the Indian customs EDI System (ICES)
• 24-hour help desk facility extended to trading partners

IGST Refund through ICEGATE

Since 10th of October, 2017, IGST Refund Module is operational in ICES for exports. For the purpose of refund of IGST paid on goods exported out of India, the Electronic filing of Declaration of Export i.e. Shipping Bill shall be considered as an application for the Refund of IGST (Integrated Goods and Sales Tax). For this, the exporter needs to file both the Export General Manifest (EGM) and a valid GST Return in Form GSTR 3 / Form GSTR 3B. Once the EGM and GSTR 3/3B filed successfully, the information on Form GSTR 1 shall be electronically transmitted to Customs and then the refund claim shall be processed by Customs Designated System.

The IGST refund module has an inbuilt system wherein after validating the Shipping bill data available on ICEGATE and the GST Return data transmitted by GSTN, the refund is granted automatically. However, it is necessary that these data matches at an Invoice level. If it shows any difference in the data of the GSTN then it will the reason of the Non-Transmission of the Invoices on the ICEGATE. Further, let’s discuss the Reasons for Non-Transmission of the Invoices (Error/Response Codes).

Reasons for Non-Transmission of the Invoices to the ICEGATE

Successfully Validated Shipping Bill

In this case, the status shall show Code SB000. However, it is likely to happen that even if the status shows SB000, the Shipping Bill does not appear in the refund because of the following reasons:

• The refund shall not be applicable If the exports have been made under a Letter of Undertaking or bond.
• In cases multiple invoices are covered under the same shipping bill, few of the invoices are successfully validated while the others are not due to any other errors.
• the higher rate of drawback claimed for the shipping bill makes that particular shipping invalid for the IGST Refund.
• Where the amount of the IGST Refund claim is less than INR 1000/-.

Invalid Shipping Bill Number

When there is difference in the Shipping Bill mentioned in Form GSTR1/6A and Shipping Bill Number mentioned with the Customs, error SB001 occurs.

• A clerical error made from the exporter’s end while filing Form GSTR 1/6A might be the possible reason for the mismatch in the Shipping Bill (SB) number.
• However, by making amendments in GSTR 1 it can be rectified by filing Form 9A which is available at the GST Common Portal.

EGM Not Filed

In cases where the exporter forgets or by mistake does not file the EGM, he, immediately, may contact the Shipping Lines for filing the EGM.

Mismatch in the GSTIN

When the GSTIN mentioned in the Shipping Bill does not match with the GSTIN filled in the GST Returns, this error occurs.

• Here as well, the adjustments in GSTR 1 can be made by the exporter to rectify the errors by filing Amendment Form 9A which is available at the GST (Goods and Service Tax) Common Portal.
• However, it is important to note here that once the EGM is filed, there is no provision of the amendment in the SB.

Record Already Received

If the Duplicate or repeated transmission of Shipping Bill invoice record found from GSTIN then this error occurs. The former transmission might already have been validated and confirmed for IGST refund.

Invalid Invoice Number 

The most common error with error code SB005 is difference in the invoice number declared in the Invoice Table in the Shipping Bill than that declared in the GSTR 1. The reasons for this error might be:

a) Typographical mistake while entering data in GSTR 1 or the SB.

b) The exporter uses two sets of invoices, one invoice for GST and another invoice for exports resulting in mismatch of invoice numbers.

Gateway EGM (Export General Manifest) not available

If the response code SB006 appears, it means that the Gateway EGM has not been submitted electronically or has been stuck in some error. Following are the necessary steps to file the Gateway EGM:

• Immediately after the cargo leaves the ICD (Inland Container Depot), file train/truck summary.
• Make sure that in the EGM filed at the Gateway Port has the ICB SB mentioned by the Shipping Line along with a copy of transference received from the Gateway port.
• Rectification of the errors is possible through amendment in Service Centre. It must be approved by concerned officer.

Non-Transmission of the Return Data from the GSTN

The above mentioned errors can be seen in NewMis of Integration Status Report of

GSTN by the field officer. However, only those Shipping Bills on which the IGST validation procedure is run, are included on this report. The exporters can view this report in their ICEGATE login.

As stated above, the IGST Refund validation procedure is run only for those Shipping Bills where the EGM has been submitted and the GSTR 1 returns data has been transmitted to the customs by the GSTN.

There are substantially a few pre-requisites for transmission of the data for GSTN:

• For that particular supply, both GSTR1/6A and GSTR 3B shall have been filed.
• The IGST paid on exports declared in GSTR1/6A should not be more than that declared in  GSTR 3B.
• If the exporter finds that even after proper and correct filings of the GST Returns as above & there are no missing invoices in GSTR 1 for that particular supply, their Shipping Bills do not reflect in this report, then the exporters are advised to write about the issue to the Helpdesk at the GSTN Department.

Non-Transmission of the Invoices to ICEGATE due to Non-authentication of the Aadhaar/E-KYC Documents

W.e.f 1st January, 2022, Aadhaar Authentication was made mandatory for IGST Refund for the IGST paid on the export of the goods.

• As mentioned in the Notification only if the exporter has successfully uploaded E-KYC Documents and his Aadhaar Authentication has been done successfully, only then the GST System shall transmit the details of the export invoices of the taxpayer to the ICEGATE for processing the IGST Refund.
• Hence, if the exporter (taxpayer) has not processed for Aadhaar Authentication or uploaded his E-KYC Documents then the system will not forward the export invoice details leading it to be the error of “Non-Transmission of the Invoices” to the ICEGATE.

What to do if the invoices are not transmitted to ICEGATE because of non-authentication of Aadhaar/e-KYC documents not uploaded?

• This will happen in the above-mentioned scenario. If there is Non-Transmission of the invoices because of non-authentication of Aadhaar/e-KYC documents not uploaded in that case, the taxpayer will recieve an Email with the same subject line.
• In such cases, the exporter shall have to first complete his/her Aadhaar Authentication process, and upload his/her e-KYC Documents, and then again try for IGST refund process on ICEGATE.

It is necessary to complete all the necessary procedure to get the IGST Refund, When the invoices / Shipping Bills are transmitted to the ICEGATE only then, one will be able to claim his/her refund. If any of the above-discussed errors occur, the taxpayer has to rectify them first and then he/she may claim for IGST Refund.