Circular No. 1013/1/2016-CX

F. No. 201/05/2014-CX.6
GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
MINISTRY OF FINANCE
DEPARTMENT OF REVENUE
CENTRAL BOARD OF EXCISE AND CUSTOMS

New Delhi, dated the 12 ^th Jan, 2016

To
The Principal Chief Commissioners/ Chief Commissioners of Central Excise (All)
The Principal Chief Commissioners / Chief Commissioners of Central Excise and Service Tax (All)
The Principal Chief Commissioners/ Chief Commissioners of Service Tax (All)
The Principal Chief Commissioners/ Chief Commissioners of Customs (All)
The Principal Chief Commissioners/ Chief Commissioners of Customs (Preventive) (All)

Sub: General guidelines for implementation of e-payment of refund/ rebate-reg.

Madam/Sir,

Attention is invited to the procedure followed by the field formations for payment of refund/ rebate. Presently, most of the field formations follow the manual handing over/ despatch of cheques for payment  of refund/ rebate. Consequent to the sanction of refund/ rebate claims by the competent authority, cheques are being issued and the same are sent by either registered post or handed over to authorized persons. The present procedure entails paper work, manpower deployment by the claimants and delay in payment of refunds.

2. In order to speed up the transfer of the fund directly to the beneficiary 's bank account after sanction of the refund/rebate claim and thereby promote ease of doing business, the following procedure for e-payment of refund/ rebate is hereby prescribed for implementation by all field formations:

I.   E-PAYMENT THROUGH AUTHORIZED BANKS

(a) The payment under the system of electronic  payment of refund/ rebate amounts through RTGS/ NEFT facility shall be made by the field formations through authorized banks.

(b)   As most of the field formations are maintaining current account with nearest Govt. business enabled branch of the State Bank of India, the e-payment procedure may be implemented through those branches. In case any formation is maintaining Govt. account with bank(s) other than the State Bank of India, e-payment may be made through such bank(s). More than one bank may also be authorized fore-payment.

(c) The Commissioner concerned , after obtaining concurrence  from the authorized bank(s) within the jurisdiction to provide for payment of refund/ rebate to assessees through RTGS/  NEFT facility, shall authorize the refund sanctioning authorities within their jurisdiction to make e-payment of refund/ rebate through such authorized banks only.

(d) The banks may charge the refund claimant fee for rem1ttmg refund amount through RTGS/ NEFT as per RBI guidelines and the claimant would get only the net amount. This should be quantified and fixed in consultation with the authorized bank at the time of rolling out the scheme for payment to the claimant's  account.

II.  PROCEDURE  FORE-PAYMENT

(a)    While filing refund / rebate claim for the first time , the claimants opting for this facility shall provide one-time authorization in duplicate, duly certified by the beneficiary bank in a prescribed format (enclosed as Annexure-A) . One copy shall be retained by the department and one copy shall be sent to the bank with the first refund sanction order of the applicant.

(b)   The refund sanctioning authority would forward to the authorized bank at periodic intervals:

(i)      a signed statement (copy of sample format enclosed as Annexure-B) of sanctioned orders which inter alia  contains  details  of  the  beneficiaries and the amounts sanctioned

(ii)     a cheque in favour of the bank as mentioned  above for the consolidated refund/rebate amount.

(iii)    a soft copy of the above statement to the banks through e-mail

(c)    The refund sanctioning authority shall ensure that at least one signed statement of sanctioned orders along with a cheque for the consolidated refund /rebate amount, in the prescribed format (Annexure-B), is forwarded to the authorized bank in a given month. The said statement shall cover the details of all  the refund/ rebate orders sanctioned till the date of forwarding of statement to the bank.

(d)   Upon receipt of the statement signed by  the refund  sanctioning  authority  and the cheque for the consolidated refund amount, the bank would  credit  the refund       amounts to the respective accounts of the claimants through NEFT/RTGS after deducting the applicable NEFT I RTGS charges as per RBI guidelines. Commissioners are expected to ensure that there is no delay in the disbursal of the sanctioned amounts.

III. PROCEDURE  FOR  RECONCILIATION

(a)    A UTR (Unique Transaction Reference) is generated for each transfer of funds to            the beneficiary 's account by  the bank. This UTR is a bank's acknowledgment evidencing the transfer of the fund to the claimant 's bank account and should be collected from  the bank  at  periodical  intervals  along with a periodic report to be prescribed by the Commissioner.

(b)   After transfer of the sanctioned rebate amount to the beneficiary's  account, UTR's report received from the bank should be sent by the refund sanctioning authority to the PAO concerned at the end of each month enclosing the details of cheques issued with date and amount. A sample copy of the enclosure to the letter to PAO is enclosed as Annexure-C. The format of Annexure-C, if needed, may be locally amended/ modified.

(c)    After transfer of the amounts to the claimant s, the bank shall generate 'periodic scroll' containing the details of refund amount sanctioned to various claimants along with other details as necessary and send the same to the PAO concerned giving details of receipt of consolidated cheques and payment s made by the bank.

(d)   The PAO may be requested to reconcile the cheques issued by the field formations in respect of the rebate/ refund with the periodic scroll sent to them by the bank and report discrepancy , if any, to the field formation concerned who, in turn, would verify the same and send compliance report to the PAO.

3. The above instructions shall be put in place by the field formations by 10.02.2016 . The facility of e-payment of refunds/ rebate is already operational in certain Central Excise zones such as Mumbai-11, Hyderabad, Chandigarh and Chennai. The field formations, for assistance, if any while complying with above directions may consult the above formations which have already implemented the e-payment  facility. Once the above  refund/rebate system is settled with  the bank , field formations concerned shall issue necessary trade notices for information to members of trade.

4. Difficulty, if any, in implementation of the above procedure may please be brought to the notice of the Board. Hindi version would follow.

(ROHAN)
Under Secretary to the Government of India

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