In the case of Tab India Granites (P.) Ltd. v. Commissioner of Central Excise & Service Tax, Chennai-III (2016) 67 taxmann.com 315 (Chennai – CESTAT), the Assistant Commissioner rejected the refund claim of the appellant company and held that the same was filed beyond the stipulated period of one year.

However, the appellant company filed refund claim for the period from January 2010 to March 2010 on 07.01.2011. Subsequently, the refund claim was returned to the appellants on 11.03.2011 requesting to resubmit the same along with the documents as per the letter. And the appellants resubmitted the refund claim on 02.05.2011. Thereafter, a letter was addressed to the Range Officer for obtaining the original documents. Finally, the original documents were submitted on 11.11.2011.

On appeal to the Chennai CESTAT, the Hon’ble Tribunal held that the application for refund was filed within the stipulated period of one year from the date of export and the refund claim was returned in order to comply with the statutory requirement thus cannot be considered as barred by limitation.