TIOL-DDT 2726
17 11 2015
Tuesday

GOVERNMENT has revised All Industry Rates (AIR) of Duty Drawback by Notification No. 110/2015-Customs (N.T.), dated 16.11.2015 which comes into force on 23.11.2015.

These AIRs broadly take into account certain broad average parameters including, inter alia, prevailing prices of inputs, input output norms, share of imports in input consumption, the rates of central excise and customs duties, the factoring of incidence of service tax paid on taxable services which are used as input services in the manufacturing or processing of export goods, factoring incidence of duty on HSD/furnace oil, value of export goods, etc.

Some of the important changes are:

The composite rates have been increased in many cases like frozen shrimps/ prawns (chp 3, 16), perfumed agarbatti (chp 33), finished/ lining leather (chp41)….

Separate entries have been provided in the Drawback Schedule for Accelerated Freeze Dried (AFD) shrimps, lobster/crab, pasteurized tinned chilled crab meat (chp 3, 16), fish oil (chp 15), fish meal (chp 23), etc.,

Rate has been provided for granulated slag (chp 26) and the description under heading 6802 has been reworded with respect to constituent material for tiles, handicrafts, etc.

Certain products earlier having only customs rates, have been provided with composite rates. These include bicycle tyres (chp 40), bicycle tubes (chp 40), woven fabrics of other vegetable textile fibres/ woven fabrics of paper yarn (chp53)...

Iron and steel (chp 72 from heading 7207 onwards), articles of iron and steel (chp 73), tools and parts of base metal (chp 82), miscellaneous articles made from steel (chp 83), machinery and appliances (chp 84), electrical machinery (chp 85), rolling stock (chp 86) and ships (chp 89) have been provided with increased customs rate of 2%, with certain exceptions.

Composite rates for wooden art ware (chp 44), papiermache (chp 48), yarn/ fabric/ garment of silk (chp 50, 61, 62), certain MMF yarn/ fabric (chp 54, 55), carpets (chp 57), brass artware/ articles (chp 74), certain sports goods (chp 95) etc. see a reduction.

AIR has been fixed as Rs. 209.3/gm for gold jewellery /parts and Rs. 2790/kg for silver jewellery /articles.

Rates on remaining of the erstwhile DEPB items are being aligned with residuary rates, except where higher rates were due.

Drawback caps, wherever meaningfully possible, have been provided normally in entries with rates higher than 1.9% (the highest residuary rate). The drawback cap of the nature provided for certain project exports applies when the conditions specified in the relevant Notes and conditions are met and it does not apply to other cases.

CBEC Circular No. 29/2015-Customs, Dated: November 16, 2015 and Notification No. 110/2015 - Customs (N.T.), Dated: November 16, 2015

Customs, Central Excise and Service Tax Drawback Rules, 1995 Amended

CONSEQUENTLY, the Government has also amended the Customs, Central Excise and Service Tax Drawback Rules, 1995. This too comes into effect from 23rd November 2015.

1. "wheat" is brought under the brand rate mechanism.

2. At present, after export, a complete application for determination of brand under rule 7 of these Rules has to be filed at the Central Excise office to enable issuance of provisional drawback letter. The sub-rule (3) of Rule 7 has been amended so that Central Government may specify an amount for payment as provisional drawback by proper officer of Customs. Notification No. 110/2015-Customs (N.T.), dated 16.11.2015 (paragraph 3) specifies this amount as equivalent to the Customs component of AIR corresponding to the export goods, if applicable, and subject to the same conditions as applicable to a claim for the 'B' column in the Schedule.

3. The amount paid as provisional drawback shall be taken into account by the Central Excise to authorize further provisional drawback, where necessary.

4. A modified procedure for export under claim for brand rate under rule 7 of Drawback Rules 1995 has been prescribed.

The brand rate facilitation in terms of Para's 5A-5C of Instruction No. 603/01/2011-DBK dated 11.10.2013 would continue and there should be no delay by Central Excise formations in finalizing applications for fixation of brand rate.

Board expects the Commissioners to ensure due diligence to prevent any misuse. The shipping bills with parameters considered to be sensitive should be handled with adequate care at the time of export itself. Further, in case of claim of the composite (higher) rate of AIR, the processing should specifically ensure availability of 'Non-availment of Cenvat certificate' etc. at the export stage itself. There is also need for continued scrutiny for preventing any excess drawback arising from mismatch of declarations made in the Item Details and the Drawback Details in a shipping bill. It may continue to be ensured that exporters do not avail of the refund of service tax paid on taxable services which are used as input services in the manufacturing or processing of export goods through any other mechanism while claiming AIR.

CBEC Circular No. 29/2015-Customs, Dated: November 16, 2015 and Notification No. 109/2015 - Customs (N.T.), Dated: November 16, 2015

Accounting code for payment of Swachh Bharat Cess

CBEC has issued a Circular communicating the accounting codes for Swachh Bharat Cess allotted by the Office of the Controller General of Accounts as given below:

This was already announced in the FAQ released by the Board on Saturday. What is added by this Circular is the word "Interest" in brackets in the title given to the third column.

Circular No. 188/7/2015-Service Tax., Dated November 16 2015

Swachh Bharat Cess- Point of Taxation for reverse charge?

WHAT is the point of taxation for Swachh Bharat Cess under reverse charge mechanism?

CBEC in its FAQ clarifies,

Q. 19 How would liability be determined in case of reverse charge services where services have been received prior to 15.11.2015 but consideration paid post 15.11.2015?

Ans. In respect of reverse charge mechanism, SBC liability is determined in accordance with Rule 7 of Point of Taxation Rules, as per which, point of taxation is the date on which consideration is paid to the service provider. Thus, SBC liability in such case will be 0.5% X Value of taxable service.

Swachh Bharat Cess - Determination of Taxability

CHAUHAN Anand Narayanbhai has sent us this:

For determination of taxability of SBC w.e.f. 15-11-2015, we are required to check Rule 5 of Point of Taxation Rules for regular services and Rule 7 for Services under RCM. For ease of understanding the same has been captured in a chart which will found to be useful.

Where are those transferred officers? CBEC Wonders

CBEC transferred certain Assistant Commissioner/Deputy Commissioner and Joint Commissioner level officers in June and August 2015. Board has been writing to the Chief Commissioners to ensure that the transferred officers are relieved to take up their new postings. In any case they were all deemed to have been relieved on 30.09.2015.

Board has come to know that in spite of repeated reminders, some 25 officers are yet to be relieved.

Board wants that all the transferred officers are immediately relieved and a compliance report sent to the Board latest by 20.11.2015.

What happened to the deemed relief on 30th September? Obviously everybody knows that the Board's threats are empty and disobedience of its orders will not cause any damage. But why should the Board put up with such brazen disobedience by its supervisory officers who are expected set an example?

One of the officers in the list works in the DGHRD, which is supposed to monitor these transfers! And we are told that another officer who figures in the list has taken voluntary retirement and left the department. It is doubtful, if he would come back to join his new place of posting because Board transferred him after retirement.

CBEC F. No. A.22011/09/2015-Ad-II(Pt.)., Dated: November 13, 2015

Taxpayer Service Centre at JN Customs

COMMISSIONER of Customs, Nhava Sheva-III in a Facility Notice dated 16.11.2015 informs that a "Tax Payer Service Centre" for Jawaharlal Nehru Custom House is set up on 1st Floor, Jawaharlal Nehru Custom House, Nhava Sheva for all the 6 Commissionerates (Nhava Sheva­ General/I/II/III/IV/V).

The "Tax Payer Service Centre" is a single window system for accepting/handling all taxpayer's queries, complaints, grievances etc. and a unique acknowledgement number will be generated on the spot for future reference of the taxpayer and the disposal of the query/complaint/grievance etc. filed at the Tax Payer Service Centre shall be monitored by the Commissioner of Customs, Nhava Sheva ­ III so as to ensure prompt and effective disposal. The "Tax Payer Service Centre" will start functioning with immediate effect.

The setting up of "Taxpayer Service Centre" is in addition to the Centralised Receipt Section working under Correspondence Section, as a measure of Government's initiative to improve "Ease of Doing Business" and also as the Department has declared the current year as the year of Tax Payer Services.

The Civil Services - What is expected of IRS?

THE UPSC conducts the Civil Services Examination (CSE) for recruitment to IAS and various other services including IRS. The UPSC has constituted an expert committee to examine the various issues regarding the Civil Services Examination. They have sent a questionnaire to the Revenue Boards for their response on the following questions: -

General

1. Is the existing scheme and pattern of CSE able to fulfill the objective of selecting suitable officers for your Service?

2. Do the candidates selected possess the necessary aptitude and skills required?

3. Are the candidates from some disciplinary areas better suited to the needs of your Service(s)? Please specify the disciplinary areas.

4. Please indicate two issues, which in your opinion are crucial for improving the present selection system.

Existing scheme:

5. Is there an increase in candidates from science /engineering (medical background since the 2011 CSE?

6. Is the perception that the existing scheme of CSE is favourable to 'urban' candidates valid? Is there any bias in favour of candidates from particular disciplines?

7. Does the existing conventional pattern of CSM fulfill the objective of rigorous testing of candidates or equally effective result, if not more, could be achieved through objective type testing?

Subject coverage:

8. Is a common examination format suitable for selection to various Services given the differences in work and career profiles of the Services? Is there a need to (re)introduce additional papers for selection to the Indian Administrative Service/ Indian Foreign Service/ any other Service? If yes, what should be the content and weight of such additional papers.

9. Should English language proficiency be tested in CSP? Is it desirable to continue with the English language qualifying Paper in CSM?

10. Is it necessary to test candidates in an optional subject in CSM? If yes, should they be tested in a subject that they have studied at University? What should the number of optional subject papers?

Eligibility and logistics

11. Are the eligibility criteria prescribed for candidates in the existing CSE scheme appropriate? Specifically, what should be (a) the minimum and maximum age limits and (b) the number of attempts allowed for different categories?

12. Should candidates who have been selected at a previous CSE be allowed to write the Examination again, after joining a Service?

13. What improvements, if any. can be made in the testing and evaluation methodologies adopted in the CSE, in view of the increase in number of candidates taking the Examination? Should minimum percentage of marks at graduation be prescribed in the eligibility criteria?

14. What general measures can be taken to reduce the time-cycle of CSE, from the stage of notification of Examination to the declaration of final results?

15. What changes can be made in the CSE Rules ( e.g., medical examination procedures) to speed up the process of selection?

16. What steps should be taken to streamline the Service allocation process and speed up the operation of Reserve List in CSE?

17. Should the CSE Rules provide for maintaining a wait list of candidates who can be recommended for appointment for vacancies remaining unfilled due to non-joining of candidates?

18. What should be the time frame for implementing changes to the CSE scheme and pattern once they are approved, to provide for adequate lead time to candidates?

Can the IRS be reformed at the recruitment stage?

Nonetheless, it would be interesting to read the response of the Revenue Boards, if and when it is sent.

CBEC F. No. 8/B/185/HRD(HRM)/2015., Dated November 16 2015

Until Tomorrow with more DDT

Have a nice day.

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