Transaction value excludes unaccepted supplementary price increases, allowing duty refund where the buyer neither paid nor claimed credit.

Duty paid on a supplementary-invoice price increase is refundable where the buyer neither accepts the revision nor becomes liable to pay it, because assessable value is limited to the price actually paid or payable as transaction value. The unaccepted enhancement cannot be included in that value, making the related duty an excess payment. A buyer's certification that it did not pay the supplementary-invoice amount or avail Cenvat credit demonstrates that the duty incidence was not passed on. Consequently, the refund is admissible and is not barred by unjust enrichment.

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Issues: Whether duty paid on supplementary invoices raising a price increase not accepted or paid by the buyer is refundable, and whether the bar of unjust enrichment applies.

Analysis: The assessable value is confined to the transaction value, namely the price actually paid or payable. Since the buyer neither accepted the proposed price revision nor became liable to pay the enhanced amount, that amount could not form part of the transaction value. The duty paid on the unaccepted enhancement was consequently an excess payment. The buyer's certification that it neither paid the supplementary invoice amounts nor availed Cenvat credit established that the incidence of duty had not been passed on, excluding unjust enrichment.

Conclusion: The refund claim for duty paid on the unaccepted supplementary-invoice price enhancement is admissible, and unjust enrichment does not bar the refund.

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