Revision of customs duties on certain items and procedural simplification in Service Tax refund to exporters

In the wake of the recent fall in the international prices of commodities and with a view to safeguard the interests of domestic producers, Government have carried out certain changes in the customs duty rates. The details of these changes are as under:

(i) Withdrawal of the full exemption from customs duty granted earlier on specified iron and steel items such as Pig iron, spiegeleisen, semi-finished products, flat products and long products. Consequently, they will be subject to a basic customs duty of 5% ad valorem.

(ii) Withdrawal of full exemption from customs duty granted earlier on crude soyabean. Consequently, crude soyabean oil will be subject to a basic customs duty of 20% ad valorem. There is no change in the import duty on refined soyabean oil.

These changes come into effect on the 18th of November, 2008. Notification No.122/2008-Customs dated 18.11.2008 has been issued in this regard.

With a view to simplify the refund based service tax exemption scheme on taxable services attributable to exports, the time limit for filing refund claims has been extended from 60 days to six months. In respect of technical testing and analysis service, the documentation required for claiming refund has been simplified. Notification No.32/2008-Service Tax dated 18.11.2008, amending notification No. 41/2007-Service Tax has been issued in this regard.