Iron Ore Fines Are Exempted From Payment Of Customs Duty: CESTAT

The Kolkata Bench of Customs, Excise, and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal (CESTAT) has held that iron ore fines were exempted from payment of duty.The bench of Ashok Jindal (Judicial Member) and Rajeev Tandon (Technical Member) has observed that a let export order cannot be issued before payment of full duty by the assessee. In those circumstances, it cannot be said that a let export order was issued to the appellant on December 6, 2008. Therefore, the date of the export order is to be taken as 08.12.2008.The appellant/assessee entered into a contract with overseas buyer M/s S.K. Resources Ltd. for the sale of 63,200 MT of iron ore fines. They filed a shipping bill for customs clearance of export goods. The shipping bill was assessed provisionally on December 6, 2008. On December 7, 2008, Notification No. 129/2008-Cus dated December 7, 2007, came into force, which exempted iron ore fines from export duty. The shipment of cargo was made on December 18, 2008.Since the shipment was done after December 7, 2008, the appellant, presuming that no duty is payable on the export of iron ore, filed the refund claim on December 30, 2008, for an amount of Rs. 97,15,062.The amount was paid by the appellant during the filing of the shipping bill. The refund claim was returned to the appellant on the ground that the shipping bill was not finally assessed. The assessee filed a refund claim again on February 10, 2009, which was again returned to them. The refund claim was returned, stating that the refund claim is premature and the shipping bill has not been assessed yet.The appellant received a letter dated January 8, 2013, stating that the shipping bill had already been finally assessed on March 14, 2009. The refund claim was submitted for consideration. The refund claim was rejected, holding that the shipping bill was assessed on December 6, 2008, and the let-export order (LEO) was given on December 6, 2008. The appellant was liable to pay duty on the export of iron ore fines; in those circumstances, the refund claim is not maintainable.The assessee emphasized the shipping bill showing that the appellant had not paid export duty on December 6, 2008, and it was finally paid on December 8, 2008; in those circumstances, before payment of duty, an export order could not be issued. The let export order, although mentions date 06.12.2008, is fabricated, and further before 08.12.2008, no let export order can be issued, and on the said date, no duty was payable on the export of iron ore fines; therefore, they are entitled to a refund claim.The tribunal held that iron ore fines were exempted from payment of duty via Notification No.129/08 dated 07.12.2008, no duty was payable on 08.12.2008, so the appellant was not required to pay duty.Counsel For Appellant: K.K.AcharyaCounsel For Respondent: S.DebnathCase Title: M/s. Odisha Mining Corporation Limited Versus Commissioner of Central Excise, Customs & Service Tax, Bhubaneswar-ICase No.: Customs Appeal No.75889 of 2017Click Here To Read The Order

Iron Ore Fines Are Exempted From Payment Of Customs Duty: CESTAT

Mariya Paliwala

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