Export refund eligibility for service tax was upheld where documents adequately linked input services to export consignments.

Refund of service tax paid on input services used in relation to export was held admissible under Notification No. 17/2009-ST where the documentary record sufficiently linked the services to the export consignments. The appellate authority relied on the certificate, the chart correlating shipping bills with bills of lading or airway bills, and the service-provider invoices to find that the services were used for export purposes. Defects such as the absence of invoice numbers or shipping bill numbers on the invoices, and objections about service descriptions, were treated as adequately explained by the evidence on record. Revenue produced no material to rebut these findings, so the refund claim was upheld.

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Issues: Whether refund of service tax paid on services used in connection with export was admissible under Notification No. 17/2009-ST dated 07.07.2009, where the invoices did not initially show invoice numbers or shipping bill numbers but the documents otherwise correlated the services with exports.

Analysis: Refund under the notification depended upon payment of service tax and use of the services in relation to export of goods. The documentary record, including the certificate, chart correlating shipping bills with bills of lading or airway bills, and the service-provider invoices, was examined by the appellate authority and found sufficient to establish that the services had been used for export. The objections regarding the description of services and the absence of certain particulars on the invoices were found to be met by the evidence on record. Revenue did not produce any material to rebut these findings.

Conclusion: The refund claim was rightly allowed, and the Revenue's challenge was rejected.

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