TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2025 (12) TMI 902
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....hallans evidencing payment of duty against the relevant Bills of Entry. iii. Copies of Invoices of sale of the imported goods. 2.3 But, the Appellant failed to submit copies of VAT challans and abstract of VAT/CST paid on sale of imported goods. Further, the appellant failed to furnish Chartered Accountant certificate as per PN 39/2011 dated 14.06.2011 to rule out unjust enrichment. Therefore, a Deficiency Memo was issued to the Appellant on 02.07.2014. The Appellant failed to respond to the same. Consequently, without going into other merits of the claim, the entire refund claim filed by the Appellant was rejected by the adjudicating authority for non-fulfillment of the condition in para 2(e)(iii) of the Notification No. 102/2007-Customs dated 14.09.2007 read with Para 2(v), (vi) and (vii) of Circular No. 16/2008 dated 13.10.2008. Further, the adjudicating authority found that in respect of 2 Bills of Entry No. 4304505 / 09.08.2011 and 4441958 / 24.08.2011, the refund claim was filed beyond the period stipulated in the Notification No. 102/2007 dated 14.09.2007, i.e., one year from the date of payment of duty. 3.1 The Appellant carried the matter in appeal before th....
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.... had been paid to the concerned VAT / Sates Tax authorities. 5.2 Regarding unjust enrichment, she submitted that the Chartered Accountant had certified that the 4% Additional Duty being claimed as refund has been shown in the Books of Accounts / Balance Sheet / Trail Balance for the period from November 2011 to December 2011 as 'Amount due as additional duty of customs' under the sub-heading 'Balances with Government authorities' under the head, 'Other loans and advances. Further, it was also certified that the 4% Additional Duty claimed as refund has not been charged to expenses in the Profit and Loss Account of the company and therefore the same is not forming part of the cost of the goods and hence the burden of 4% AD is not being passed on to the buyer or any other person. 5.3 The Ld. Advocate averred that copies of documents evidencing the payment of VAT / CST (as effective discharge of VAT / CST payment on imported goods), duly certified by the Chartered Accountant were also submitted to the original authority as well as the LAA. 5.4 Referring to the Deficiency Memo issued by the original authority, the Learned Advocate contended that the Appellant approached the ori....
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....(292) E.L.T. 451 (Tri. - Ahmd.)] where it is held as follows: - "6. Further, as regards the principles of unjust enrichment is concerned, I find that the Board has clarified vide Circular No. 6/2008-Customs dated 28-4-2008 that a certificate issued by the statutory auditor/Chartered Accountant who certifies the annual account of the importer certifying that the incidence of duty has not been passed on by the importer to the buyer would suffice for the purpose of refund of such duty." iii. Commissioner of Customs (Air), Chennai Versus RFCL Ltd. [2013 (291) E.L.T. 383 (Tri. - Chennai)] where it is held that: - "The Circular further laid down, having regard to the enormous/voluminous records involved in the sale of imported goods, that Chartered Accountant's Certificate could be produced to prove payment of appropriate Sales Tax/VAT/CST on the imported goods which suffered SAD. 4. After careful consideration of all the materials placed before us, we are of the view that the learned Commissioner (Appeals), by passing the impugned order, was implementing the purport of Notification No. 102/2007-Cus., as clarified in the aforesaid circular of the Board....
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.....T. 126 (Tri. - Chennai) where it is held as follows: - "9. In the grounds of appeal, the Revenue contests the authenticity and bonafide of CA certificate. It is seen from the adjudication order that Board Circular No.16/2008-Cus. clarifies that a Chartered Accountant is, one who either certifies the claimants financial records under the Companies Act, 1956 or any ST/VAT Act of the State Government or the Income Tax Act, 1961, in order to fulfill the condition that the incident of duty burden has not been passed on to any other person. We find that Chartered Accountants certificate was accepted by the adjudicating authority in terms of Board Circular, cannot be discarded without any material and/or basis. Revenue has not placed any material and therefore, there is no force in such grounds of appeal." 5.9 The Ld. Advocate submitted that in the light of the case laws relied upon, the Appellant is eligible for refund claim based on the Chartered Accountant Certificate and other documents required in terms of Notification No. 102/2007-Cus. dated 14.09.2007 furnished by the Appellant. The Customs Notification No. 102/2007 dated 14.09.2007 in paragraph 2(e)(iii) provides docu....
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.... been rejected by the original adjudicating authority for non-fulfillment of the condition in para 2(e)(iii) of the Notification No. 102/2007-Customs dated 14.09.2007 read with Para 2(v), (vi) and (vii) of Circular No. 16/2008 dated 13.10.2008. Para 2(e)(iii) of notification No. 102/2007-Cus dated 14.09.2007 reads as under: - (e) the importer shall, inter alia, provide copies of the following documents alongwith the refund claim: (iii) documents evidencing payment of appropriate sales tax or value added tax, as the case may be, by the importer, on sale of such imported goods. Para 2(vi) of circular No. 16/2008-Customs dated 13.10.2008 reads as under: - (vi) Submission of original copy of ST/VAT Challan: The difficulties expressed by the importers in submission of original Tax paid challans for evidencing payment of ST/VAT at more than one port was examined. Importers pay the appropriate ST/VAT to the concerned State Government where the sale of imported goods is effected. There is a genuine difficulty in case of importers selling the goods through various States or those importing goods at various ports and subsequently, selling in different States to ....
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....on in para 2(e)(iii) of the Notification No. 102/2007-Customs dated 14.09.2007 read with Circular No. 16/2008 dated 13.10.2008. 10. In the impugned order, the LAA has rejected the appeal of the Appellant on the ground that the Chartered Account Certificate submitted by the Appellant is not in proper format as per PN 39/2011 dated 14.06.2011. It is observed that the "Enclosures" part of Public Notice No. 39/2011 dated 14.06.2011 issued by Commissioner of Customs (Sea Port - Exports) reads as under: "Enclosures: (Suggested / Indicative formats for CA certification / Self-declaration) Annexure I-V" Therefore, the format of Chartered Accountant Certificate as per Public Notice No. 39/2011 dated 14.06.2011 is only suggested / indicative format and not a mandatory format prescribed for claiming refund under notification No. 102/2007-Customs. Even the notification No. 102/2007-Cus dated 14.09.2007 does not prescribe any format for Chartered Accountant Certificate. Hence, rejection of the Chartered Accountant Certificate by the adjudicating authority as well as the LAA on the ground that the same is not in proper format as per PN 39/2011 dated 14.06.2011 is not correct. 1....