Refund - Excess service tax paid

[Asked by Guest]

We have paid Excess service tax as we had not utilised the service tax credit available to us due to oversight & had paid the dues in cash(TR -6). We had incorporated the refund claim while filing our half yearly return. We have a big balance of Unutilised credit whether it will be possible to get refund?

[Surender Gupta]

There is no scope of getting the refund of service tax credit availed on input services except in exceptional cases like export of services and / or where you prove that that you have deposited the service tax through TR-6 challan under pressure of the Service Tax Officials and / or there was some practicle difficulty for utlizing such credit etc.

[Madhukar N Hiregange]

Please refer rule 5 of cenvat credit rules. In normal course if you do not utilise the credit the same can be carried forward. You may not be able to get the refund unless you export servcies. If so you could examine Not.11/2005

AI Summary

Refund of Service Tax Credit limited to exports or where compulsion or practical difficulty prevented credit utilisation.
Refund of excess service tax is ordinarily not available where unutilised Cenvat credit can be carried forward under rule 5; refunds are limited to exceptions such as export of services, tax deposited under compulsion of officials, or proven practical difficulty in utilising the credit, and taxpayers should review the notification permitting refunds in export situations.