EASIEST e-payment - Regarding - Central Excise - DGS & DM DOC No. IV(24)/1/2009-Systems/450

DGS DM DOC No. IV(24)/1/2009-Systems/450 Dated 10-2-2009 Government of India Ministry of Finance (Department of Revenue) Central Board of Excise Customs, New Delhi Subject : EASIEST e-payment - Regarding. As you are aware, payment of Central Excise Duties Service Tax through internet banking has been made compulsory for Central Excise Service Tax assessees paying more than Rs. 50 lakhs per annum. As per the earlier procedure, the registered Central Excise/Service Tax assessee had to log-on to the Internet site of any of the authorised banks to carry out the transaction. It was, however, observed that in these transactions the validations were not done for a number of crucial and critical fields resulting in incomplete and inaccurate data. To overcome these defects and improve the quality of data, it was decided that all the non-financial validations such as assessee code, location code and accounting codes would be carried out at NSDL's website and thereafter the assessee would proceed to the authorised bank's website from a secure link provided from NSDL website. The Reserve Bank of India has already issued instructions to this effect to all the banks in August 2008 (copy enclosed) and the banks were to complete the testing and go live in November 2008. As of now, 14 banks have completed the testing and are linked up through the NSDL system. We are following up with the other banks to complete the testing and go live at the earliest. A brief write up on the current EASIEST e-payment procedure is enclosed for your information. You are requested to bring it to the notice of assessees under your charge and ensure that the instructions on e-payment issued by the Board are complied with. Enclosure : Electronic payment of Central Excise duty and Service tax through banks having Internet banking facilities The Central Board of Excise and Customs had made it mandatory for payment of tax/duty electronically through internet banking for Central Excise and Service Tax Assessees paying Rs. 50 lakhs or more duty or tax in the preceding financial year, or those who had already paid Rs. 50 lakhs or more in the current financial year. Presently the tax payers can pay taxes and duty through internet by accessing the internet facilities of the authorized banks. In order to improve the data quality and after discussions with the banks, modifications have been made in the system. It has been decided that this facility will be made available to the tax payers through the NSDL gateway which will provide the facility for the Assessees to generate challans online and thereafter pay the tax online. EASIEST e-payment In the new system the assessee is required to access the NSDL-EASIEST website https://cbec.nsdl.com/EST/JSP/security/EasiestHoinePage.isp and select the 'e-payment' option. The following steps will be required to be taken by the taxpayer : 1. To pay Excise Duty and Service Tax online, the Assessee has to enter the 15 digit Assessee Code allotted by the jurisdictional Commissionerate. 2. There will be an online check on the validity of the Assessee Code entered. 3. If the Assessee code is valid, then corresponding assessee details like Name, Address, Commissionerate code etc. as present in the Assessee Code Master will be displayed. 4. Based on the Assessee Code, the duty/tax i.e. Excise duty or Service tax to be paid will be automatically selected. 5. The Assessee is required to select the type of duty/tax to be paid by clicking on the button "Select Accounting Codes for Excise" or "Select Accounting Codes for Service Tax" depending on the type of duty/tax to be paid. 6. At a time the assessee can select upto six Accounting Codes. 7. Once the data is validated in the NSDL central system, a drop down menu will appear indicating the names of various banks offering internet payment facility. The Assessee can opt for any of these banks through which payment is to be made. 8. On submission of data entered, a confirmation screen will be displayed. If the taxpayer confirms the data entered in the screen, it will be directed to the net-banking site of the bank selected. 9. The challan details entered by the Assessee will be transmitted to the bank along with the location code (Commissionerate, division, range code) of the Assessee. (Parameters that will be passed from NSDL to the Banks are enclosed). 10. The taxpayer will login to the net-banking site with the user id/password provided by the bank for net-banking purpose arid enter payment details at the bank site. 11. On successful payment, a challan counterfoil will be displayed containing CIN, payment details and bank name through which e-payment has been made. This counterfoil is proof of payment being made. 12. The Assessee has an option to download the counterfoil from the website of the bank. This will contain all details available that are usually given in the hard copy of the computerized acknowledgement including Challan Identification Number (CIN) and name of the bank through which e-payment has been made. Role of NSDL NSDL has provided the data screen for entry of challan details and are validating the assessee code against the Assessee code master. It provides a secure link from its website to the website of different banks. Role of Banks 1. Banks are authorized for collection of Central Excise duty and Service tax Commissionerate wise. All banks may not be authorized for collection of Central Excise duty and Service tax for all Commissionerates. At the NSDL website any registered assessee of any Commissionerate can enter the non-financial details and thereafter select any bank. 2. If the bank is authorized for collection for that Commissionerate it will allow the assessee to complete the transaction (enter financial details), else not. 3. The website of participating banks will provide appropriate data entry screen for entry of payment details by the Assessee at their website in a secure mode. 4. They will also ensure that on completion of the transaction, the Assessee is allotted a unique Challan Identification Number (CIN) comprising of BSR code of the Internet Collection branch, the date of receipt and serial number of the electronic challan in that branch on that day. 5. The counterfoil displayed by the bank should be in line with the computerized acknowledgement generated in case of physical collection. (Instructions issued on this by the PrCCA, CBEC dated 11-1-2008 are enclosed). In addition, the counterfoil should also contain the transaction id, and the time of payment. 6. Participating banks will ensure that on completion of the payment the Assessee is able to down load the taxpayer's counterfoil containing all the details presently being mentioned on the hard copy of the computerized acknowledgement. 7. The Banks will also print details of CIN and the transaction id in the customer's bank account statement/pass book so that the Assessee will have a permanent record of CIN details. 8. Banks should provide facility for re-generation of electronic challan counterfoil on the basis of transaction id. 9. Banks should prominently display the following on its website; a. detailed procedure for generation of electronic challan counterfoil, b. guidelines for the taxpayer on the action to be taken in case the electronic challan counterfoil is misplaced or the taxpayer is not able to generate or save the electronic challan counterfoil, c. procedure for re-generation of counterfoil and d. contact particulars viz; e-mail id and telephone no. for resolution of grievances with regard to e-payment. Only those banks whose designated branches for internet collection of Service tax and Central Excise have been authorized by the PrCCA/RBI will be enabled by NSDL to provide this facility to the assessee. Excise or Service tax payment done through ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank and Axis Bank can be done by assessees for select Commissionerates only. For all other banks authorized for collection of Excise duty or Service tax payment can be made for all Commissionerates.