Second phase rollout of faceless e-assessment in customs
BackgroundOn 8 June 2020, the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) rolled out the first phase1 of faceless e-assessment in Customs at Bengaluru and Chennai ports for imports covering Chapters 84 and 85 of the Customs Tariff Act, 1975 (Act).
The rollout marked the beginning of the phased pan-India rollout of faceless e-assessment, which is becoming the norm from 1 January 2021.
Basis the evaluation of the first phase rollout, the CBIC has now notified the second phase rollout of faceless e-assessment.
Notification No. 63/ 2020-Customs (NT) read with Circular No. 34/2020-Cus dated 30 July 2020, outlines the guidelines, including further amendments in regulations for the second phase rollout of the faceless e-assessment.
The key features of the second phase rollout of the faceless e-assessment are provided below.
Framework of second phase rollout of faceless e-assessment
● Phased rollout is scheduled to commence from 3 August 2020 by including the Delhi and Mumbai Customs Zones and extending the scope of faceless e-assessment at Chennai and Bangalore Customs Zones.
● The second phase of faceless e-assessment to cover the specified Customs Zones and the imports under the specified Chapters of the Act in the following manner:
S. No. Chapter(s) of the Act Appraising Group - Customs Customs Zones
1. 84 5 Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi
2. 85 5A Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi
3. 89 to 92 5B Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi
4. 50 to 71 3 Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi
5. 29 2A Mumbai I, Mumbai II, Mumbai III
● For monitoring, speedy and uniform faceless e-assessments in the specified Customs Zones with regard to Bills of Entry assigned by the Customs Automated System to the officers of the Faceless Assessment Groups, the specified Principal/
Chief Commissioners, Customs, of these zones are nominated as the Nodal Commissioners.
● In addition to the jurisdictional Commissioners of Customs (Appeals) at Bengaluru and Chennai, the Commissioners of Customs (Appeals) at Delhi and Mumbai will take up appeals filed in respect of faceless e-assessments pertaining to imports made in their jurisdictions, although the tax officer may be located at the other Customs station.
● The procedure, as outlined at the time of rollout of the first phase in June 2020, will continue to apply.
PwC comments
The further phased rollout of faceless e-assessment is in line with the objective of the CBIC to move towards faceless
e-assessment, pan-India, by the year’s end. This initiative will not only help trade in faster clearances due to uniform and speedier assessment with effective monitoring, but also help in improving cross-border trade experience.
For the success of this initiative, periodic interaction and feedback on the experience of trade in using the system, as indicated earlier by the CBIC, will help in more effective pan-India rollout.
1For more details you may refer to ourTax Insight dated 8 June 2020
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