The GST laws makes standardised provisions for making a refund claim. Every claim has to be filed online in a standardised form which will be acknowledged (if complete in all aspects) in 14 days. The claim for refund of amount lying in the credit balance of the cash ledger can be made in the monthly returns also.

Introduction
Timely refund mechanism is essential in tax administration, as it facilitates trade through the release of blocked funds for working capital, expansion and modernisation of existing business.
The provisions pertaining to refund contained in the GST law aim to streamline and standardise the refund procedures under GST
regime. Thus, under the GST regime, there will be a standardised form for making any claim for refunds. The claim and sanctioning
procedure will be completely online and time bound, which is a marked departure from the existing time consuming and cumbersome procedure. Situations Leading to Refund Claims The relevant date provision embodied in Section 54 of the CGST Act, 2017, provisioncontained in Section 77 of the CGST Act, 2017 and the requirement of submission of relevant documents as listed in Rule 1(2) of Refund Rules is an indicator of the various situations that may necessitate a refund claim. A claim for refund may arise on account of:

1. Export of goods or services
2. Supplies to SEZs units and developers
3. Deemed exports
4. Refund of taxes on purchase made by UN or embassies etc.
5. Refund arising on account of judgment, decree, order or direction of the Appellate Authority, Appellate Tribunal or any court
6. Refund of accumulated Input Tax Credit on account of inverted duty structure
7. Finalisation of provisional assessment
8. Refund of pre-deposit
9. Excess payment due to mistake

10. Refunds to International tourists of GST paid on goods in India and carried abroad at the time of their departure from India

11. Refund on account of issuance of refund vouchers for taxes paid on advances against which, goods or services have not been supplied 12. Refund of CGST & SGST paid by treating the supply as intraState supply which is subsequently held as inter-State supply and vice versa 

Thus, practically every situation is covered. The GST law requires that every claim for refund is to be filed within 2 years from the relevant date.  

Credit Notes Further, Section 34 of the CGST Act, 2017 provides for issuance of credit notes for post supply discounts or if goods are returned back within a stipulated time. When such credit notes are issued, obviously it would call for reduction in output liability of the supplier. Hence, the taxes paid initially on the supply would be higher than what is actually payable. In such a scenario, the excess tax paid by the supplier needs to be refunded. However, instead of refunding it outright, it is sought to be adjusted after verifying the corresponding reduction in the input tax credit availed by the recipient. Section 43 of the CGST Act, 2017 provides for procedure for reduction in output liability on account of issuance of such credit notes. This is another form of refund by adjustments in the output tax liability. Such refund is not governed under the general refund provisions contained in Section 54 of the CGST Act, 2017.