𝗖𝗘𝗦𝗧𝗔𝗧 𝗔𝗵𝗺𝗲𝗱𝗮𝗯𝗮𝗱 𝗥𝘂𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝗻 𝗥𝗲𝗳𝘂𝗻𝗱 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗨𝗻𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗘𝗻𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗵𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 📢 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗧𝗿𝗶𝗯𝘂𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗵𝗲𝗹𝗱: "Refund of service tax, retrospectively exempted, is subject to unjust enrichment. Since the incidence of tax was passed on, the refund amount was rightly credited to the Consumer Welfare Fund."

🔍 𝗙𝗮𝗰𝘁𝘀: 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗻𝘆: Messrs Mahasagar Travels Limited and Gujarat Travels 𝗜𝘀𝘀𝘂𝗲: Can the refund be credited to the Consumer Welfare Fund if the service tax was shown as an expense and passed on to customers? 𝗔𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗶𝘁𝘆: The appellant, registered as Tour Operators, paid service tax in the course of business. After service tax on tour operators was retrospectively exempted, the appellant sought a refund.

⚖️ 𝗝𝘂𝗱𝗴𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁: The Tribunal ruled that refunds subject to unjust enrichment must be credited to the Consumer Welfare Fund, per CCE & ST, Rajkot vs. Eagle Corporation (2018). Since the appellants passed on the service tax to customers, the refund claim was inadmissible. The appeals were dismissed, retaining the refund in the Fund.

📜 𝗖𝗮𝘀𝗲 𝗜𝗻𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻: 𝗧𝗶𝘁𝗹𝗲: Messrs Mahasagar Travels Limited and Gujarat Travels vs. Commissioner of Central Excise & ST, Bhavnagar 𝗦𝗘𝗥𝗩𝗜𝗖𝗘 𝗧𝗔𝗫 𝗔𝗽𝗽𝗲𝗮𝗹 𝗡𝗼. 10943 of 2013-DB 𝗢𝗿𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝗗𝗮𝘁𝗲: 27 April 2023 📜 This ruling underscores that refunds of retrospectively exempted service tax, when passed on to customers, are subject to unjust enrichment principles and credited to the Consumer Welfare Fund.