Service tax refund claims need supporting evidence; incomplete applications may be rejected for failure to prove entitlement.

Refund of service tax under Section 11B of the Central Excise Act, 1944, as applied through Section 83 of the Finance Act, 1994, requires supporting documents to verify that the tax incidence was borne and credited to the exchequer. Where refund applications are filed without the documents needed to establish payment flow and other foundational facts, the claim is not admissible on the material placed before the authorities. The text states that departmental instructions required such incomplete claims to be rejected or returned, and the lower authorities acted consistently with that requirement; the appeals therefore failed and the refund rejection was sustained.

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Issues: Whether refund of service tax was admissible when the refund applications were filed without supporting documents to establish that the tax incidence had been borne and credited to the exchequer.

Analysis: Refund under Section 11B of the Central Excise Act, 1944, as made applicable to service tax matters by Section 83 of the Finance Act, 1994, must be supported by documents necessary to verify admissibility. The applications were filed without the documents required to establish payment flow, credit of tax to the exchequer, and other foundational facts. The departmental instructions relied upon by the Tribunal required rejection or return of refund claims filed without requisite supporting documents, and the lower authorities had acted consistently with that requirement.

Conclusion: The refund claim was not admissible on the material placed before the authorities and the rejection of the claim was .

Final Conclusion: The appeals failed, and the orders rejecting refund were sustained.

Ratio Decidendi: A refund claim that is filed without the supporting documents necessary to establish entitlement is liable to be rejected and cannot be entertained on an unsubstantiated assertion of tax incidence.

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