Refund of CE duty on purchase of cars by physically handicapped persons - Board ameliorates situation
IN the context of Sl. No 280 of Notification No. 12/2012-CE dated 17.03.2012 vide which concessional rate of duty has been provided for purchase of Cars by physically handicapped persons, Board has received references from intended beneficiaries that their refund applications filed beyond one year from purchase of vehicle have been rejected as they were hit by limitation under Section 11B of the Central Excise Act, 1944.
The beneficiaries have indicated that the reason for such delay in filing the claim is due to the delay in procuring certificate from the line Ministry as warranted by the notification.
To ameliorate such situations the Board has come out with a procedure which goes thus -
"When a handicapped person approaches the Central Excise office for refund of duty paid on the vehicle, he should be advised that refund application should be filed within one year of payment of duty, irrespective of availability of certificate from the Line Ministry so that such claims are not time barred. The Officer processing the refund in turn should issue a deficiency memo, if the said certificate is not available. On submission of the Certificate, refund can be processed and sanctioned. Interest would be payable only for period beyond three months from submission of the complete application with the certificate from the Line Ministry."
So, the point is file refund claim first - certificate from Line Ministry can follow.
A good suggestion by the Board but the field formations are never known to take such instructions kindly but are eager to dispose of the refund applications, one way or the other!
Circular , Dated: February 03, 2016