Customs Duty – Self Assessment

Self-assessment is one of the pivotal clearance methods which was brought in by customs authorities to ease import procedures and expedite its clearance.  Self-assessment formalities and procedures are applicable in large customs base locations for the following categories:

• Import consignments of government authorities, public sector transfers and importers who have manifested identity and sufficient previous performance.
• Import consignment of goods which are not limited or forbidden.
• Goods being imported that don’t require any import license or customs clearance permit.
• Assessment procedures that do not comprise the original examination of goods and no test bond or end-use bond are associated with assessment procedures.

Like customs duty self assessment, the Customs department has also introduced electronic sealing of containers to improve the ease the export of goods from India and E-MPS payment facility.

Procedures of self-assessment

Self-assessment could be done via online or manual modes.  The steps to file the self-assessment have been listed below:

Manual Self-Assessment:

1. There will be a green colored band at the margin of a bill of entry to differentiate it from other normal bills of entry.
2. After jotting of self-assessment bill of entry, the clerk in customs department assigns a serial number and attaches the date stamp with signature.
3. The rate of duty with an amount of duty to be paid will be stated in the bill of entry.
4. The importer or his customs house broker pays the duty in the customs treasury on his declaration of duty under imported goods, if applicable.
5. Once the payment of duty under imported goods under self-assessment is made, the concerned customs officials detaches the original copy of the bill of entry and rest of the copies with other paperwork is produced to the appraiser in charges of examination who finishes the assessment and procedures built on the last evaluated bill of entry under the same type of goods imported.
6. If found contented with the declaration by the importer with the said last document, the concerned officer of customs department which allows ‘pass out’ procedures as normal import clearance procedures.

Online Self-Assessment

1. To make the tax payments online, we must log on to http://www.tin-nsdl.com > Services > e-payment: Pay Taxes Online Click on the tab “e-pay taxes” provided on the above-stated link.
2. Select the concerned challan for eg; ITNS 280, ITNS 281, ITNS 282, ITNS 283, ITNS 284 or Form 26 appropriately.
3. Input PAN / TAN (whichever applies) and other compulsory challan details such as accounting head under which payment is made, the address of the taxpayer and the bank through which payment is to be made etc.
4. On verification of data entered, an authenticating screen would be displayed. If PAN / TAN is valid as per the ITD PAN / TAN master, then the full name of the taxpayer would be shown on the confirmation screen.
5. On confirmation of the data so mentioned, it would direct the taxpayer to the net-banking site of the bank.
6. The taxpayer has to login to the net-banking site with the user id/password provided by the bank for net-banking purpose and the payment details must be input at the bank site.
7. On successful payment, a challan counterfoil will be shown which contains the CIN, payment details and bank name through which e-payment was made. This counterfoil the proof for which the payment has been made.

Verification of Self-Assessment

In the process of verification, the Customs officer may ask for further documents or information or get the goods examined or send the sample of imported / export for testing by an approved agency. The requirement of information for the purpose of verification will be documented by the proper officer. After verification, based on the merits of the case, the proper officer may either accept the Self-Assessment or initiate the process of reassessment. On the basis of verification or for any other reason, if the proper officer of Customs is of the opinion that the Self-Assessment of duty done by the importer/exporter is not correct in any respect – misclassification, overvaluation, etc. – the proper officer of Customs may re-assess the duty.

If the re-assessment is not accepted by the exporter in writing, the proper officer may issue a speaking order within 15 days of the assessment order. In the event of no reassessment is done or a speaking order is not passed the assessment of duty of the imported / export goods may be audited at the premises of the importer/exporter.