SAD refund cannot be denied merely because the sale invoice predates out-of-charge when other conditions are met.

Refund of Special Additional Duty under Notification No. 102/2007-Cus cannot be denied solely because the sales invoice was issued before the out-of-charge order, where the claimant otherwise shows compliance with the notification conditions and correlation between imported and sold goods. Supporting evidence such as VAT payment challans, sales invoices, delivery documents and a Chartered Accountant's reconciliation certificate can establish the required nexus. The Tribunal followed earlier precedent that invoice timing alone does not prove the sold goods were different from the imported goods, so rejection on that ground alone was not sustainable and the refund was allowed.

---

---

Issues: Whether refund of Special Additional Duty under Notification No. 102/2007-Cus could be denied merely because the sale invoices were issued before the out-of-charge order, when the other conditions of the notification were shown to have been satisfied.

Analysis: The refund claims were rejected only on the ground that the sale invoices preceded the out-of-charge order. The Tribunal noted that the assessee had produced VAT payment challans, sales invoices, delivery-related documents and a Chartered Accountant's reconciliation certificate linking the imported goods with the sales invoices. The issue was covered by an earlier Tribunal decision holding that invoice timing by itself does not establish that the goods sold were different from the imported goods and that rejection on that ground alone is not sustainable when the surrounding evidence supports the claim.

Conclusion: The denial of refund on the sole ground that the sale invoices were raised before out-of-charge was not sustainable, and the refund claim was allowed in favour of the assessee.

Ratio Decidendi: Refund under the SAD exemption notification cannot be refused solely because the sales invoice predates out-of-charge if the claimant otherwise establishes compliance with the notification conditions and correlation between the imported goods and the sold goods.

---