F.No.450/180/2009-Cus.IV(Pt.)
Government of India
Ministry of Finance
Department of Revenue
Central Board of Excise & Customs
*****
229-A, North Block,
New Delhi, 29th July, 2011.
To,
All Chief Commissioners of Customs
All Chief Commissioners of Central Excise and Service Tax
Subject: Making E-payment of Customs duty mandatory-regarding.
Sir / Madam,
E-payment facility at Customs locations was introduced in 2007 and is available through more than one authorised bank at all major Customs locations having ICES facility. Though voluntary, the facility has been made use of by numerous importers. Besides expediting the process of payment of duty and clearance of imported goods, the facility of e-payment has resulted in reduction of transaction costs.
2. In the aforestated background, in order to reduce the transaction cost of the importers and expedite the time taken for customs clearance the Board has decided to make e-payment of duty mandatory for the importers paying an amount of Rupees one lakh or more per transaction. Additionally, for Accredited Clients under the Customs Accredited Client Programme irrespective of any amount of duty, the Customs duty will have to be paid through E- payment mode only. The date from which the E- payment will be made mandatory will be notified separately.
3. DG (Systems) has prepared instructions outlining the procedure for electronic payments. It is requested to sensitise concerned officers, importers, trade and industry regarding the E- payment.
4. As a large number of taxpayers would be required to pay the taxes electronically, it is requested that importers, trade and industry may be provided all assistance so as to help them in adopting the new procedure.
5. Suitable Public Notices or Standing Orders may be issued to guide the trade / Industry and officers.
Yours faithfully,
(G.S. Sinha)
OSD (Customs-IV)
