An apparatus and a method for Automatic Repeat reQuest (ARQ) in a broadband wireless access system are provided. The method includes driving a timer which operates by a preset period to synchronize ARQ between the transmitter and a receiver; after transmitting data to the receiver without error, when a driving time of the timer expires, checking whether there is data to transmit to the receiver; when there is no data to transmit to the receiver, initializing the timer; and transmitting an ARQ reset message to the receiver. Hence, the air resource consumption and the power consumption in ARQ reset can be lowered by reducing unnecessary ARQ reset.