Claim of refund of Cenvat Credit - "Form A" has been amended

The form for claiming refund of cenvat credit as prescribed vide Notification no. 5/2006-Central Excise (N.T.), dated 14^th March 2006 has been amended vide Notification No. 7/2020-Central Excise(N.T.), dated 27^th February 2010

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Relevant Extracts from the TRU letter dated 26-2-2010

Refund of accumulated Cenvat credit to Exporters: Amendments in Notification No. 5/2006-CE (NT)

Representations had been received by the Board that refund of accumulated CENVAT credit to the exporters of services and other service providers like call centers and BPO's were getting delayed and most of them are ultimately getting rejected,-

(i) On account of difference in perception/interpretation between the department and the export of services as to whether their actives fall under the purview of 'export of service at all';

(ii) Difference in wordings used in Notification No. 5/2006-CE (NT) dated 14.03.2006, issued under Rule 5 of CENVAT Credit Rules, 2004 as regards the definitions of terms such as 'inputs'/ 'input services'

(iii) The procedural requirements prescribed under the notification and illustrations given therein were causing difficulties both in terms of delays and filing of incorrect/incomplete refund forms.

02. The issue was discussed both with the departmental officers as well as the trade and as an immediate solution, Circular No. 120/01/2010-ST dated 19th January, 2010 was issued.

03. To give legal backing to the above said circular, leading to faster and fair settlement of the refunds claims, changes have been effected in Notification No. 5/2006-CE (NT). Some of the changes have been made retrospective so that the pending cases are also covered. Other changes are being brought in prospectively, and are aimed at assisting the Departmental officers in faster processing of refund claims. The retrospective amendments are contained in clause 73 of the Finance Bill, 2010 while the prospective changes are contained in Notification no.7/2010-Central Excise (Non Tariff) dated the 27th February, 2010. Both these documents may be carefully read together for appreciating the full impact of the changes. The salient features of these changes are as follows:-

Retrospective changes effected from 14.03.2006 (i.e. from the date of issue of notification)

1) The words "in relation to" have been added in main condition (a) of the Notification.

2) The word "in' contained in main condition (b) of the said Notification has been replaced with "for".

The above two changes ensure that the provisions of the refund notification and the CENVAT Credit Rules are aligned and that refund is granted on all goods or services on which CENVAT can be claimed by the exporter of goods or services.

3) The illustration given in condition 5 of the Appendix to the Notification has been deleted. This ensures that refund of CENVAT credit which has been availed in the period prior to the quarter/ period for which the refund has been claimed is also eligible for refund. The refund claims should be calculated only on the basis of the ratio of the export turnover to the total turnover of the claimant. Thus, if the CENVAT credit available to the exporter at the end of the quarter, or month, as the case may be, is Rs. 1 crore, and the ratio of export to total turnover during the quarter is 50%, then Rs. 50 lakh should be refunded to the exporter. The essence of the changes is that refund shall be available for all goods, or input services, on which CENVAT is permissible and should be processed accordingly. Further, refund of CENVAT should not be linked to CENVAT taken in a particular period only.

Prospective changes

1. The conditions A and B given in the Annexure to the Notification are being deleted, and the details required to be given under these conditions, along with certain additional details, are to be furnished by the claimant in a table, which has been prescribed in condition A. The table should be certified by a person authorized by the Board of Directors (in the case of a limited company) or the proprietor/partner (in case of firms/partnerships) if the amount of refund claimed is less than Rs.5 lakh in a quarter. In case the refund claim is in excess of Rs.5 lakh, the declaration should also be certified by the Chartered Accountant who audits the annual accounts of the exporter for the purposes of Companies Act, 1956 (1 of 1956) or the Income Tax Act, 1961 (43 of 1961), as the case may be. This verification is aimed at reducing the checking of voluminous records which is required to be done by the officers processing the refund claims and ensure faster processing of refund claims.

2. Consequential changes by introducing the words "in relation to" and "for" in the Annexure to the Notification have been brought to bring them in line with the amendments made in the main conditions of the Notification.