Miramed Ajuba Solutions Pvt. Ltd. Vs Commissioner of Service Tax (CESTAT Chennai)
CESTAT Chennai held that relevant date of filing refund claim under Rule 5 of the Cenvat Credit Rules in case of export of service is the date of realization of the foreign exchange.
Facts- The appellants are 100% Export Oriented Unit (EOU) and got registered with the Software Technology Parks of India (STPI). The appellant is engaged in the business of providing services in relation to Business Process Outsourcing, which interalia includes providing Healthcare Revenue Cycle Management and Collection Services to their only client M/s. Ajuba, USA. The appellants have obtained Service Tax registration under Business Auxiliary Services (BAS) and Business Support Services (BSS). The appellants have been utilizing various input services towards providing the above mentioned output services. In respect of the service tax paid on input services used for export of the above mentioned services, they had filed for Refund of unutilized Cenvat Credit for eight quarters spanning from July 2012 to September 2014 under Rule 5 of the Cenvat Credit Rules, 2004 read with Notification No. 27/2012-CE dated 18.06.2012.
The refund claim was rejected mainly on the ground of time barred as they were filed beyond the period of one year from the dates of export invoices.
Conclusion- We find that the issue of limitation/Time bar in the impugned order stands settled in favour of the appellants in view of the Larger Bench decision in the case of Span Infotech Pvt. Ltd., wherein, the Tribunal has held the relevant date of filing refund claim under Rule 5 of the Cenvat Credit Rules may be taken as the end of the quarter in which the FIRC is received, in cases where the refund claims are filed quarterly.
FULL TEXT OF THE CESTAT CHENNAI ORDER
All the above eight appeals filed by M/s. Miramed Ajuba Solutions Pvt. Ltd., Chennai, involving the same issue viz., rejection of their refund claims filed under Rule 5 of Cenvat Credit Rules, 2004, are being taken up together for disposal by this common order.
2.1 The brief facts are that the appellants herein are a wholly owned subsidiary of Ajuba Solutions Mauritius Limited, which in turn is a wholly owned subsidiary of M/s. Ajuba International ICC. The appellants are 100% Export Oriented Unit (EOU) and got registered with the Software Technology Parks of India (STPI). The appellant is engaged in the business of providing services in relation to Business Process Outsourcing, which interalia includes providing Healthcare Revenue Cycle Management and Collection Services to their only client M/s. Ajuba, USA. The appellants have obtained Service Tax registration under Business Auxiliary Services (BAS) and Business Support Services (BSS). The appellants have been utilizing various input services towards providing the above mentioned output services. In respect of the service tax paid on input services used for export of the above mentioned services, they had filed for Refund of unutilized Cenvat Credit for eight quarters spanning from July 2012 to September 2014 under Rule 5 of the Cenvat Credit Rules, 2004 read with Notification No. 27/2012-CE dated 18.06.2012. The details of eight refund claims and the period involved are summarized below:-
