KARACHI: The Customs Appellate Tribunal has rejected the refund claim filed by Jaffer Brothers Private Limited on the ground of being inadmissible.
The company had submitted that they mistakenly claimed inappropriate PCT heading, which attracted higher rate of duty and taxes.
According to the details, Jaffer Brothers imported a consignment from UAE declared to consist of parts for-earth moving machinery and sought clearance through their clearing agent A.K. Sheikh and Sons.
The goods declaration was processed and assessed as per declaration and the duty and taxes were collected and no objection of any sort was raised by the importer at the time of clearance of goods.
However, after over a one month from the date of clearance of consignments, the clearing agent A.K. Sheikh and Sons submitted an application at Model Customs Collectorate Appraisement-East for the refund of the excess amount on the grounds that they had inadvertently typed the PCT heading for an item as 7325.9000 attracting customs duty 25 percent and sales tax 18 percent instead of 8431.4900 attracting customs duty 5 percent, sales tax zero percent and claimed refund of duty and taxes of the differential amount of Rs 243,000.
Customs Appraisement rejected the claim on the grounds that the amendment in PCT in GD cannot be allowed under Section 29 of Customs Act, 1969.
The importer then approached the collector Appeals who also dismissed the appeal on the grounds that the importer had not submitted any documentary evidence that the incidence of tax had not been passed on to the consumer.
Later, the Importer approached Appellate Tribunal. The Tribunal observed that the impugned goods constitute parts of chains, which are made of cast iron or steel and were appropriately classifiable under PCT 7315.9000. Thus both the classifications declared earlier and claimed thereafter were incorrect.
Tribunal in its ruling observed that the applicable rate of duty on correct PCT 7315.9000 and assessed PCT 7325.9000 are same, thus refund is not admissible.
