Notification No.33/2008 ST dt 7th December, 2008.

A. Certain conditions for refund of service tax by exporter of goods under

Notification No 41/2007 ST Dt. 6th October, 2007 relaxed vide Notification No.

33/2008 ST dt 7th December, 2008.



• Earlier refund of service tax on specified services was available to exporter, only if he had

exported the goods without availing the duty drawback of service tax. Now this condition

has been omitted.

• Refund of service tax under Business Auxiliary Service was restricted to lesser of the

Following



o actual amount of service tax paid or

o service tax calculated on 2% of FOB value of export goods



Now this limit has been increased to 10% of FOB value of export goods



• Refund of Clearing and Forwarding services used in relation to export of goods are also

eligible for refund provided invoice issued by clearing and forwarding agent contains

following additional detail



o number and date of shipping bill,

o description of export goods,

o number and date of the invoice issued by the exporter relating to export goods,

o details of all the charges, whether or not reimbursable, collected by the clearing and

forwarding agent from the exporter in relation to export goods.



B. Clarifications vide circular No. 106/9/2008 ST dt. 11th December, 2008 in

respect of refund claimed by exporter in Notification No. 41/2007 (supra):



• It has been clarified that invoice of the input service provider shall contain all the details as

given in Rule 4A of the service tax Rules, 1994. Refund claim cannot be allowed on the

basis of invoices not having complete details. In view of the above clarification it is in the

interest of the exporter to verify the invoice of the input service provider before releasing

payment and ensure that it shall contain following details.



o The name, address and the registration number of such person;

o The name and address of the person receiving such taxable service;

o Description, classification and value of taxable service provided and

o The service tax payable thereon.



Exporter has to furnish undertaking that the service tax, for which refund has been

claimed, has been paid.



• Further instruction has been issued by CBEC that, 80% of the refund amount due is to be

sanctioned as adhoc interim refund to following category of exports having good track

record, within 15 days of filing of a refund claim, if that refund claim is complete and

contains the requisite documents:



o all exporters having export turnover of more than Rs 5 crore in the current or preceding

financial year;

o PSUs including PSUs of State Governments;

o Star Export Houses as specified under Chapter 3.5 of the Foreign Trade Policy, 2004-2009;

o Manufacturer-exporters registered with Central Excise who have been exporting

during the previous two financial years and have minimum export of Rs. 1 crore or

more during the preceding financial year.

o exporters registered with service tax or central excise who have paid central excise

duty and/or service tax amounting to Rs. 1 crore or more during the preceding financial

year;

o All Export Oriented Units.



In view of the above clarification and notification claiming of refund of service tax by exporters

Under Notification 41/2007 ST becomes simpler and faster.