We had re-imported goods that had been exported by us and rejected by the buyer, who found them to be defective. We are not claiming any exemption, as the time limits have passed. We are ready to pay duties as per Section 20 of the Customs Act, 1962. The Customs say that in that case, the goods have to be valued as per Section 14 of the Customs Act, 1962 read with the related Customs Valuation (Determination of Price of Imported Goods) Rules, 2007. They rejected our declaration of value as declared at the time of export, on the grounds that the value declared at the time of export was low. We seek your views on whether the stand taken by the Customs is correct.
On almost identical facts, the Tribunal has held, in the case of Emkay (India) Rubber Co. Ltd. [2012 (286) ELT 699 (Tri. Del.)], that the said Valuation Rules should not be applied in case of re-imports and that the value declared at the time of export must be adopted for the assessment of duty. In that particular case, the importer had availed himself of the exemption under notification no. 158/95-Cus dated 14.11.1995 but failed to re-export the goods in time and so, the duties became payable. However, in my opinion, that variation in the facts of that case does not take away the significance or application of the rationale of that judgment in your case.
We fabricate certain items like windows, doors, etc., at the construction site and fix them on to buildings. Are we required to pay excise duty on the items?
If the goods that come into existence at the site are moveable, even through you may fix them on to immovable structures, they will be excisable, as held by the Larger bench of the Tribunal in the case of Mahindra and Mahindra Ltd. [2005 (190) ELT 621 (Tri.LB)]. But, S. No. 206 of the notification no. 12/2012-CE dated 17.3.2012 exempts ‘all goods fabricated at site of work for use in construction work at such site’ falling under the headings 7305 or 7308 from the whole of excise duty. You may examine whether your goods fall under the said headings and the expressions used therein, and accordingly claim the exemption.
Our client in a Special Economic Zone (SEZ) has given us a copy of Form-A1, and says that on the basis of that Form A-1, we should not charge service tax. Can we accede to his request?
Notification no. 40/2012-ST dated June 20, 2012 says that where the specified services received in a SEZ and used for the authorised operations are wholly consumed within the SEZ, the person liable to pay service tax has the option not to pay the service tax ab initio. The only condition for not charging service tax is to obtain Form A-1 duly verified by the Specified Officer and a list of services approved by the Approval Committee. If the SEZ unit/developer has given those documents, you need not charge service tax.
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