Export refund limitation under Notification No. 41/2007-ST prevails over Section 11B where the claim is filed late.

Refund of service tax paid on commission to foreign agents had to be claimed quarterly within sixty days from the end of the relevant export quarter under Notification No. 41/2007-ST, and the claim filed much later was time-barred. Section 11B of the Central Excise Act could not be used to substitute the date of payment of tax as the relevant date where the notification specifically prescribed the limitation period for export-linked refunds. The refund rejection was therefore upheld.

---

---

Issues: Whether the refund claim for service tax paid on commission to foreign agents was filed within the limitation period prescribed under Notification No. 41/2007-ST, and whether section 11B of the Central Excise Act, 1944 applied so as to treat the date of payment of duty as the relevant date.

Analysis: The refund under Notification No. 41/2007-ST had to be claimed on a quarterly basis within sixty days from the end of the relevant quarter during which the goods were exported. The goods in question were exported between July 2008 and October 2008, but the refund claim was filed much later. The specified limitation in the notification could not be enlarged by taking the date of payment of service tax as the starting point. The alternative reliance on section 11B also failed because, where the statute specifically provides the relevant date for exports, that specific rule governs and the residuary clause cannot be invoked to substitute the date of payment.

Conclusion: The refund claim was time-barred and was rightly rejected.

---