The government on Wednesday notified new rules to address the menace of undervalued imports, proposed in the Budget, which will kick in on February 11 and could help raise revenue marginally.
The Customs (Assistance in Value Declaration of Identified Imported Goods) Rules, 2023 will identify a list of goods where there is reason to believe the value may not be declared truthfully or accurately and the importer would have to undertake additional obligations in this regard. The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs can specify such goods, which would be examined by a screening committee and later by an evaluation committee. “The written reference must have been made to the board which, if found suitable by screening committee for detailed examination, must have been comprehensively examined by evaluation committee which should have concluded the likelihood that the value of the relevant class of goods may not be declared truthfully …,” said the CBIC in a circular, adding that if satisfied, the board may then specify the identified goods.
The Finance Bill 2022 had proposed the amendment to the Customs Act to address the issue of undervaluation in imports and provide for rules to be framed by the central government, whereby the board can be enabled to specify the additional obligations of the importer in respect of a class of imported goods whose value is not being declared correctly, the criteria of selection of such goods, and the checks in respect of such goods.
The draft CAV Rules 2023 were circulated in October 2022.
Abhishek Jain, partner, indirect tax, KPMG in India, said that exclusion of categories where no commercial quantities are involved, project imports, etc will help prevent unnecessary hassles to genuine importers.