Importers can now raise a complaint online if clearance of Bill of Entry is delayed. Under faceless Customs this move is expected to ensure quicker clearance of goods.
The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) has created a mechanism under which disputes can be raised and escalated anonymously. This is a part of the faceless assessment and will resolve the grievances in a time bound manner.
The Bill of Entry is a legal document filed by importers or Customs clearance agents on or before the arrival of imported goods. It is submitted to the Customs authority for clearance procedure. “The delay in clearance would subsequently be escalated to the concerned Faceless Assessment Officers,” the advisory said. It added that the facility shall also enable users to track the status of grievances submitted by them till the eventual resolution.
Registered users will have to contact the ICEGATE Helpdesk team on the toll-free number 1800-3010-1000 to avail of the functionality of Anonymised Escalation Mechanism.
They can track the action on their complaint by providing their ICEGATE ID or either Bill of Entry details, including BE number, BE date, and port code or grievance number.
Businesses had complained of delay in the bill of entry clearance, causing them a lot of difficulties.
In another move the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Network has also enabled the facility to withdraw the refund application on the GST Portal, in case there is a mistake in the applications while claiming the refund.
Officials say the new facility will reduce the chances of rejection of refund by the GST department on the ground of clerical errors and will reduce the chance of any litigation.
In case of noticing any mistakes in the application, the users can now withdraw the application simply by filing Form RFD-01W on the portal and thereafter file the corrected refund application immediately for quick processing.
