P1501: Refund / rebate on account of imports

When to use P1501

Use P1501 for money received from abroad: refund / rebate on account of imports. It sits under RBI head 15, refunds, bidding and deemed trade.

The same purpose in the other direction is S1501: Refund / rebate / reduction in invoice value on account of exports (money paid abroad).

Form A1 or Form A2

Neither. Form A1 and Form A2 are applications to send money out of India. For money coming in, the bank issues a Foreign Inward Remittance Advice (FIRA), or a payment platform an e-FIRA, naming the purpose code.

Income tax

A refund or a reversed entry gives back money you paid; it is not income.

GST

A refund or reversal takes the GST treatment of the payment it reverses; it is not a new supply.

Reporting and closure

A refund or reversal is reported against the payment or receipt it undoes, which lets the bank close the original entry in IDPMS or EDPMS.

Other codes under head 15

• P1502Reversal of wrong entries, refund of amount remitted for non-imports
• P1503Receipts by residents under an international bidding process
• P1505Deemed exports (between SEZ, EPZ and the domestic tariff area)

Questions

Guides

• RBI purpose codes: the five characters that classify every payment
• What is IDPMS, and how does a Bill of Entry close?
• Paying a supplier in advance: what your bank will expect