https://www.taxtmi.com/caselaws?id=343461 Service tax paid under protest after the assessee disputed taxability could not be retained as an admitted liability without resort to the statutory adjudicatory process. Where the department alleges short levy, short payment, or non-levy, liability must be determined through the prescribed recovery machinery with an opportunity to contest the demand; a unilateral departmental letter cannot replace adjudication. Because no show cause notice or determination of liability was issued, the payment was treated as made under mistake, and the refund claim was maintainable. The rejection of refund was therefore set aside in favour of the assessee. en-us Tue, 04 Apr 2017 00:00:00 +0530 Thu, 09 Nov 2017 15:28:00 +0530 TaxTMI RSS Generator https://www.taxtmi.com/caselaws?id=343461 Service tax paid under protest after the assessee disputed taxability could not be retained as an admitted liability without resort to the statutory adjudicatory process. Where the department alleges short levy, short payment, or non-levy, liability must be determined through the prescribed recovery machinery with an opportunity to contest the demand; a unilateral departmental letter cannot replace adjudication. Because no show cause notice or determination of liability was issued, the payment was treated as made under mistake, and the refund claim was maintainable. The rejection of refund was therefore set aside in favour of the assessee. Case-Laws Service Tax Tue, 04 Apr 2017 00:00:00 +0530 https://www.taxtmi.com/caselaws?id=343461