Govt makes e-payment of customs duty mandatory.

New Delhi: The government on Friday made electronic payment of customs duty mandatory in order to further reduce transaction cost of the importers.

As a trade facilitation measure for importers, it has been decided to make e-payment mandatory for importers registered under Accredited Clients Programme and importers paying customs duty of Rs. 1 lakh or more per Bill of Entry with effect from September 17, Central Board of Excise & Customs (CBEC) said in a statement.

The CBEC has issued instructions advising all the Chief Commissioners of Customs to give wide publicity to enable trade in case any change in their software or any internal procedure for effecting e-payment is required, it said.

As a large number of taxpayers would be required to pay the taxes electronically, it is requested that importers, trade and industry may be provided all assistance to help them in adopting the new procedure, it added.

Source : ndtv.com