RECORDS - Central Excise Practice Manual (OLD) - Central Excise

7. RECORDS 7.1 Maintenance of Accounts: As a measure of simplification, the private records maintained by the assessees are accepted by the Department for the purpose of Central Excise matters also so as to facilitate them to have a single accounting system. The assessees are required to maintain records on all important aspects such as receipt, purchase, manufacture, storage, sales or delivery of the goods including inputs and capital goods, Daily Stock Account as per Rule 10 of the Central Excise Rules, 2002 and Cenvat Account as per Rule 9 of the Cenvat Credit Rules, 2004. The records, which are relevant for Central Excise, shall be authenticated by the assessee on the first and last page. These records shall be preserved for a period of five years immediately after the financial year to which such records pertain. In terms of Rule 22(2), the assessee is required to furnish to the Range Officer, a list in duplicate, of all the records prepared or maintained by him for accounting of transactions with regard to receipt, purchase, manufacture, storage, sales or delivery of the goods including inputs and capital goods. The assessee shall, on demand make the records available to the Range officer duly empowered by the Commissioner or the Audit party deputed by the Commissioner or the Comptroller and Auditor General of India in terms of Rule 22(3) 7.2 Electronic maintenance of records and preparation of Returns documents: The assessee may maintain or generate all or any of the records, returns, invoices and other documents prescribed under the statute, using a computer, in electronically readable format. No specific permission from the Central Excise Department is required for this purpose. Such person is also not required to furnish any intimation to the Department in this regard. The records can be kept and preserved on any electronic media, such as hard disk of the computers, floppies, CDs or tapes. The print outs (hard copy) of the records and documents must be taken out at the end of each month and kept in bound folders, separately for each type of record, return, documents etc.