2020 (2) TMI 188 - AT - Service Tax

Refund of service tax - rejection on the ground that appellant has failed to show the nexus of service availed and export thereof and appellant has failed to produce invoices of the services which they have received and the address mentioned in the invoice is not correct - HELD THAT - At the time of availment of CENVAT credit, it was not questioned to the appellant that on the services in question, CENVAT credit is not admissible, therefore, the same cannot be objected at the time of entertaining the refund claim. The refund claims on account of denial of refund for nexus of input service with export service cannot be rejected. The refund claims on this account are allowed - Appeal allowed - decided in favor of appellant.

Summary

Issues:
Refund claims rejection based on failure to show nexus of service availed and export, failure to produce invoices, and incorrect address in invoices.

Analysis:
The appellant, an exporter of service, filed refund claims for unutilized CENVAT credit which were rejected due to failure to establish the nexus of service availed with service exported and non-production of invoices with incorrect addresses. The appellant did not contest the denial of refund based on invoice issues. The Tribunal noted that at the time of availing CENVAT credit, the admissibility of credit was not questioned, and relying on a previous decision, held that the denial of refund solely on the ground of service not being 'input services' cannot be sustained. Therefore, the refund claims based on the nexus of input service with export service were allowed. However, refund claims where invoices were not produced or had incorrect addresses were rejected. The Tribunal disposed of the appeals accordingly, allowing refund claims related to the nexus issue while rejecting claims related to invoice discrepancies.