EXCISE AUDIT 2000 - Central Excise Practice Manual (OLD) - Central Excise

12. EXCISE AUDIT 2000 12.1 The concept of EA 2000: EA 2000 is a modern, transparent and interactive method of Audit wherein the Auditor proceeds to conduct the audit after becoming fully conversant with the business of the assessee. It is a systematic form of audit as the basic information about the assessee are gathered and analyzed in depth before conducting the audit. The Audit team would visit the premises of the assessee for conduct of the Audit after sending the intimation to that effect well in advance so as to enable the assessee to keep the records ready for the audit. The requirement of records would also be stated in the said intimation letter. The assessee would be consulted at every stage of the audit and provided adequate opportunity to explain his point of view on any particular issue so that matters are resolved instantly in full appreciation of the legal position. EA 2000 is thus a participative and taxpayer friendly audit. 12.2 Audit objections: The instances of short payment of duty or non-compliance of the legal procedures would be recorded as 'Audit Para' in the 'draft audit report' that would be prepared at the end of the verification process. The audit report would contain the issue in brief, quantification of the short payment, the point of view of the assessee, the arguments of the audit for non-acceptance of the reply etc. The Audit report containing the audit objections would be issued after thorough examination of the issue in all respects. The jurisdictional Range officer will initiate appropriate action to protect the interests of revenue by observing the principles of Natural justice. 12.3 Spot settlement of Audit objections: The assessees may, at their option, prefer to make payment of the non-levy or short levy as pointed out by the Audit along with the appropriate interest. In such cases, the audit para would be settled by the audit on the spot. This facility of spot settlement would be available, if the non-levy or short levy is not by reason of fraud or mis-statement or suppression of facts or contravention of the provisions of the Act or the Rules framed thereunder with intent to evade payment of duty.