Court Ruling Says No Tax on Transfer of Goods at SEZs

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Jul. 15 – The transfer of goods to special economic zones from outside suppliers are not subject to export duty said a Supreme Court ruling made on Tuesday.

The court denied an appeal from the national government that defined any transfer of goods from an area outside the zone referred to as a domestic tariff areas to an SEZ as an export.

The ruling comes from an Essar Steel case that also had the Gujarat High Court deciding on November 11, 2009 that goods supplied from a DTA to an SEZ should not be liable to export duty. This was then contended by the national government and brought to the Supreme Court.

The case pertains to the time when Essar Steel sold 600,000 metric tons of iron ore pellets from its Vizag-based unit to an SEZ unit at Hazira from August 2007 to January 2008.

Essar Steel is a fully integrated flat carbon steel manufacturer with a current capacity of 9 million tons per year. The company supplies components used in automotive, white goods, construction, engineering and shipbuilding.