Refund of unutilised Cenvat credit allowed for export services where consultancy classification and input service nexus were accepted.

Refund of unutilised Cenvat credit under Notification No. 5/2006-CE(NT) was treated as allowable for input services used in exporting services, because the assessee's own earlier final orders on the same agreement and substantially identical facts had already allowed the refund. The output activity was accepted as scientific or technical consultancy service, not technical testing or analysis service, and the earlier rulings were followed as final. The nexus requirement was also accepted for input services including management, inspection, legal, travel, telecommunication, advertising, database access, company secretary and design services, which were treated as qualifying input services for the exported output.

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Issues: Whether the assessee was entitled to refund of unutilised cenvat credit under Notification No. 5/2006-CE(NT) on input services used for export of services, and whether the output activity was correctly classifiable as scientific or technical consultancy service rather than technical testing or analysis service.

Analysis: The appeals were covered by earlier final orders in the assessee's own case on the same agreement and substantially identical facts, where refund had been allowed. The dispute was treated as no longer open, and the earlier rulings had already held that the output activity fell under scientific or technical consultancy service and not technical testing or analysis service. The reasoning also accepted that the input services on which credit was taken had the requisite nexus with the exported output services, and that services such as management, inspection, legal, travel, telecommunication, advertising, database access, company secretary and design services qualified as input services. The cited clarification on testing reinforced that mere testing does not attract service tax in the manner suggested by the department.

Conclusion: The refund claims were held to be allowable, and the appeals succeeded with consequential relief.

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