CGST Rule 91 — Grant of provisional refund
CGST Rules, 2017
CURRENT AMENDED 2025-10-01Repository module RULE CONTROL
Source control: The text/status on this page is tied to the official source gateway and the Repository module legal-review register. Open official source.
Official sources
Use the official source for the controlling wording, footnotes, effective date and amendment history.
Source review date: 2026-07-28. Historical-period questions require the version applicable to the transaction date.
Finin2min Summary - Rule in 2 Minutes
Qualifying zero-rated claims may receive 90% provisional refund within seven days of acknowledgement, subject to prosecution condition and current statutory scope.
official statutory reference
91. Grant of provisional refund.-(1) The provisional refund in accordance with the provisions of sub-section
(6) of section 54 shall be granted subject to the condition that the person claiming refund has, during any
period of five years immediately preceding the tax period to which the claim for refund relates, not been
prosecuted for any offence under the Act or under an existing law where the amount of tax evaded exceeds
two hundred and fifty lakh rupees. (2) The proper officer, after scrutiny of the claim and the evidence
submitted in support thereof and on being prima faciesatisfied that the amount claimed as refund under sub-
rule (1) is due to the applicant in accordance with the provisions of sub-section (6) of section 54, shall make
an order in FORM GST RFD-04, sanctioning the amount of refund due to the said applicant on a provisional
basis within a period not exceeding sevendays from the date of the acknowledgement under sub-rule (1) or
sub-rule (2) of rule 90: Provided that the order issued in FORM GST RFD-04 shall not be required to be
revalidated by the proper officer.195 193 Inserted vide Notf no. 15/2021-CT dt. 18.05.2021 194 Inserted vide
Notf no. 15/2021-CT dt. 18.05.2021 195 Inserted vide Notf no. 03/2019-CT dt. 29.01.2019 wef 01.02.2019
(3) The proper officer shall issue a payment order196in FORM GST RFD-05 for the amount sanctioned
under sub-rule (2) and the same shall be electronically credited to any of the bank accounts of the applicant
mentioned in his registration particulars and as specified in the application for refund on the basis of a
consolidated payment advice197: Provided that the payment order198in FORM GST RFD-05 shall be
required to be revalidated where the refund has not been disbursed within the same financial year in which
the said payment order199was issued.200 (4) The Central Government shall disburse the refund based on
the consolidated payment advice issued under sub-rule (3).201
Paragraph-wise decode
Qualifying zero-rated claims may receive 90% provisional refund within seven days of acknowledgement, subject to prosecution condition and current statutory scope.
Section-Rule-Form-Notification bridge
No direct Rule certified in Repository module. Check notifications, circulars, forms and corresponding State law.
The mapping is a legal concordance, not a round-robin related-link list. It is limited to instruments listed in this repository.
Practical example
Apply the rule to the relevant form, period, portal event and evidence trail before reaching a compliance conclusion.
Professional alert
Verify the latest official active Rule page, amending Gazette and portal version before filing or advising.
Implementation checklist
- Fix the transaction, taxable period and jurisdiction.
- Read every subsection, proviso, explanation and omission marker.
- Open the mapped Rule, form, notification and circular.
- Test State/UT variation and portal version.
- Preserve evidence, approvals, working papers and acknowledgements.
- Record the conclusion, assumptions, source date and reviewer.
Evidence and retention checklist
- Contract, purchase order, invoice or underlying transaction document.
- Registration, return, ledger, challan and portal acknowledgement.
- Official Act/Rule/notification version used and effective date.
- Internal tax position paper, computation and management approval.
- Correspondence, notices, replies, orders and appeal papers where applicable.
Practical Q&A
- What does rule 91 regulate?
- It regulates grant of provisional refund. Read the exact text, conditions, exceptions and transaction date together.
- Which subordinate law should be checked?
- No direct CGST Rule has been listed in this repository. Notifications, circulars, forms and the corresponding SGST/UTGST layer may also apply.
- What evidence should be retained?
- Preserve the contract or transaction record, invoice or form, portal acknowledgement, payment/ledger evidence, correspondence, legal working and the official source version used.
- Can portal behaviour override the statute?
- No. Portal functionality is operational evidence; legal entitlement and liability remain controlled by the Act, Rules, notifications and binding decisions.
Repository module professional rule control
Legal state: Current amended 2025-10-01 · Checked: 27 July 2026. Rule 91(2) was substituted from 1 October 2025 for risk-based provisional refund processing in FORM GST RFD-04.
Why Rule 91 matters
Grant of provisional refund should be read with its enabling CGST Act provision, prescribed forms, amendment notification, transaction date and the live portal workflow. The operative-text block already released on this page remains the legal core; Repository module adds application controls without altering that block.
Rule → Form → evidence bridge
- Confirm the Rule version that was operative on the relevant date.
- Check every proviso, explanation, inserted/omitted sub-rule and commencement notification.
- Use the current prescribed form/portal utility rather than a saved legacy template.
- Preserve the Rule source, filing/approval evidence, computation and decision-maker trail.
Finin2min decision path
- Trigger: What transaction, registration event, return, credit, valuation, refund, appeal or enforcement event activates this Rule?
- Date: Which Rule version and amendment notification applied on that date?
- Conditions: Have every mandatory condition and exception been tested?
- Form/portal: Is the prescribed form or electronic workflow the correct current version?
- Evidence: Can the conclusion be reconstructed from books, invoices, portal records and official sources?
Practical cases
Transaction test
Fix the tax period, legal trigger and effective version of the Rule.
Portal execution
Reconcile portal fields to the legal rule and retain the generated acknowledgement/order.
Dispute readiness
Preserve source version, computation and evidence so the position can be defended later.
Accounting, ERP and portal controls
- Do not let an ERP default or portal auto-population override the legal Rule.
- Map the Rule trigger to the correct tax period and retain before/after reconciliation where values change.
- Archive ARN, acknowledgements, generated PDFs, payment/ledger records, notices and orders where applicable.
Notice and litigation risk
- Separate a portal mismatch from a statutory breach; they are not automatically the same issue.
- Identify whether a circular/instruction is clarificatory or whether an amendment changed the Rule itself.
- Apply judicial hierarchy: Supreme Court → jurisdictional High Court → other High Courts → GSTAT; AAR/AAAR is not universal precedent.
Common mistakes
- Using today's Rule for an older transaction without an effective-date test.
- Reading a form instruction as if it overrides the Act or Rule.
- Ignoring State/UT procedural overlays where the Rule requires a local notification or officer action.
- Treating a source-gated local reproduction as cleared statutory text.
Finin2min Q&A
- What does CGST Rule 91 deal with?
- Grant of provisional refund. Start with the operative Rule version and then test the connected Act provision, forms and amendments.
- Which GST form is connected to Rule 91?
- RFD-04 The Rule and live portal workflow control.
- Can I rely only on the GST portal?
- No. Portal functionality is execution infrastructure; legal eligibility and consequences come from the Act, Rules and valid instruments.
- What should I keep on file?
- The official Rule version used, amendment/effective-date evidence, underlying transaction records, computation, portal submission and resulting acknowledgement/order.