Registration Of The Premises Is Not A Precondition For Availment Of Cenvat Credit: CESTAT

The Chandigarh bench of the Customs, Excise, and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal (CESTAT) has held that the registration of the premises is not a precondition for availing of cenvat credit.

The bench of S. S. Garg (Judicial Member) and P. Anjani Kumar (Technical Member) observed that under Sections 68 and 69 of the Finance Act, the requirement for registration arises when a person is liable to pay service tax. However, during the relevant period of dispute, the entire turnover of the appellant/assessee pertained to the export of services on which the appellant was not liable to pay tax. Thus, there was no requirement for obtaining registration on the part of the appellant.

The appellant/assessee is registered with Service Tax for providing services under the category of consulting engineer's service. The appellant filed refund claims for unutilized CENVAT credit under Rule 5 of the CENVAT Credit Rules, 2004, read with Notification No. 5/2006-CE(NT) dated March 14, 2006.

The adjudicating authority rejected the refund on the grounds of a lack of registration of the premises with the service tax authorities.

The assessee contended that registration with the Service Tax Department is not a prerequisite for claiming CENVAT credit or refund. There are no provisions under the Finance Act, the Credit Rules, or any allied rules or notifications that provide for a restriction.

The tribunal held that in the absence of a statutory provision that prescribed that registration is mandatory and that if such a registration is not made, the assessee is not entitled to the benefit of a refund, the three authorities committed a serious error in rejecting the claim for refund on the ground that it does not exist in law.

Case Title: M/s Bechtel India Private Limited Versus Commissioner of Service Tax, Delhi

Case No.: Service Tax Appeal No. 1451 Of 2011

Date: 13.09.2023

Counsel For Appellant: Shashank Shekhar

Counsel For Respondent: Shivam Syal

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