Commissioner of Customs Vs. Apple India Pvt. Ltd. [2014-TIOL-1544-HC-KAR-CUS]
In the instant case, Apple India Pvt. Ltd. (the Respondent) filed a refund claim of Rs.5,22,27,424/- of Special Additional Duty (SAD) in terms of the Notification No. 102/2007-Cus.(N.T.) dated September 14, 2007. The authorities rejected the said claim of refund on the grounds that the Respondent has failed to prove that they had not passed on the incidence of duty to the customers or any other person and also on the ground that they have not furnished required documents in relation to refund claims.
The Hon’ble Karnataka High Court has held that presumption under Section 28 of the Customs Act, 1962 (the Customs Act) that incidence of the duty has been passed on to the customers is a rebuttable presumption. It is relevant to note that Section 28D of the Customs Act provides that there arises a presumption that the incidence of duty has been passed on to the customers. It also
states that every person who has paid the duty on any goods under the Customs Act shall, unless the contrary is proved by him, be deemed to have passed on the full incidence of such duty to the buyer of such goods.
However, in the instant case, the Respondent has rebutted such presumption of passing the duty to the buyers by producing an auditor report wherein it is stated that burden of duty has not been passed by the Appellant to its customers either directly or indirectly.
(Bimal Jain, FCA, FCS, LLB, B.Com (Hons), Mobile: +91 9810604563, Email: bimaljain@hotmail.com)
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