The Finance Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman in the 42nd GST Council Meeting said that refund to be disbursed in a validated bank account linked with the PAN and Aadhaar of the registrant with effect from 1 January, 2021.

During the investigation the Ministry found that certain companies take refunds and thereafter the companies disappear, so in order to keep a check on these kinds of tendencies the Ministry has worked out on the idea of disbursing refund in a validated bank account linked with the PAN and Aadhaar.

The objective behind disbursing refund in a validated bank account linked with the PAN and Aadhaar is to avoid the fraud and keep a check on the genuineness of the companies claiming refunds.

Therefore, it is decided that the refunds will be given from 1 January, 2021 onwards exclusively to those bank accounts which are validated with PAN and Aadhaar.

In order to simplify the process for somebody who wants to file the refund application, the GST Council has devised a way out that the refund application can be signed through the Aadhaar Authentication.

In other words, the taxpayer just has to enter his aadhar number and the One Time Password  (OTP) will come on the registered mobile number and once the OTP is entered the refund application can be signed.

Therefore, this recommendation of the government will not only prove to be of great convenience for the taxpayers but will also discourage the fraudsters who want to misuse the system.