The Hindu Business Line : Pilot project for e-payment of customs duty on Jan 27

THE Customs Department will launch a pilot project for e-payment of customs duty on January 27, at Air Cargo, Bangalore, through the State Bank of India, the Union Finance Minister, Mr P. Chidambaram, announced here today.

Speaking at a meeting organised by the Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) for launch of digital certificates under iCERT project, Mr Chidambaram said that there would be one more pilot run of the e-payment of customs duty project at Air Cargo, Delhi through the Punjab National Bank. The facility would be extended to the rest of the country by April 1, through designated banks having Internet banking facility, he said.

Payment of customs duties through electronic means is a part of e-governance initiatives and is expected to reduce the transaction costs of the assessee. It will substantially reduce physical interface between the taxpayer and the tax collector. The users of the e-payment facility need not come to the Customs office or to the bank for payment of duty but can interact over the Internet in a secure manner, at the user's convenience from his home or office. The e-filing of Customs documents relating to imports and exports is already in place and the facility of remote filing of all Customs documents through an electronic gateway has been provided since January 2004. The Central Board of Excise and Customs has also introduced the e-filling of Central excise and service tax returns. With the introduction of the facility of e-payment, importers and exporters availing of the facility need not visit any Customs office since they can file the documents from their respective offices through the gateway and make duty payment through Internet.

An official release said that the e-payment facility, presently restricted to designated banks, will be enlarged to a multi-bank Internet payment facility in due course.

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