Wrong tax office refund claims should be transferred to the competent jurisdictional office, not rejected solely on territorial grounds.

Refund claims filed with the wrong Service Tax office should ordinarily be transferred to the competent jurisdictional office rather than rejected solely for lack of territorial jurisdiction, particularly where the claimant acted bona fide. The rejection in this matter was based only on forum jurisdiction and not on the merits of entitlement, so the proper course was transfer for consideration by the correct office. The time spent before the wrong forum and during related litigation was also treated as excludable for limitation purposes if a fresh filing became necessary.

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Issues: Whether refund claims filed with the wrong Service Tax office were liable to be rejected for want of jurisdiction, or were required to be transferred to the proper jurisdictional office for consideration.

Analysis: The appellant had filed the refund claims under a bona fide belief that the jurisdictional Service Tax authority could process them. The rejection was based solely on territorial jurisdiction, not on the merits of entitlement. Where a claim is presented before an incorrect forum, the proper course is to transfer it to the office having jurisdiction rather than reject it outright. The time spent before the wrong forum and during litigation was also treated as excludable for limitation purposes if a fresh filing became necessary.

Conclusion: The refund claims were not to be rejected for want of jurisdiction and were required to be transferred to the proper jurisdictional office; the finding was in favour of the assessee.

Ratio Decidendi: A refund claim filed before the wrong tax office should ordinarily be transferred to the competent jurisdictional office instead of being rejected solely on jurisdictional grounds, especially where the claim was made bona fide.

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