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Manual No. 1
Particulars of Organization, functions and duties
Authority for Advance Rulings, Central Excise, Customs & Service Tax,
Customs & Central Excise, is a high level quasi-judicial body established
by the Government of India to act as a facilitating body for foreign investment
into the country. The Authority comprises a retired judge of the Supreme
Court of India and two Members of Additional Secretary rank - one from
Indian Customs & Central Excise and the other from Indian Legal
Service, who have wide experience in technical and legal matters. At present Mr.
Justice V.S. Sirpurkar is the Chairman and Shri S. S. Rana is the Member. Office of the Authority is located on
the 4th Floor of Hotel Samrat, Kautilya Marg, Chankyapuri, New Delhi.
2. The
objective of the Authority is to pronounce binding advance rulings on Central
Excise, Customs & Service Tax matters on specified issues in order to
ensure a foreign investor of his likely indirect tax liability in relation to
his proposed investment venture in India. It has statutorily been
provided that an advance ruling be pronounced within 90 days of receipt of the application.
3. Legal
provisions relating to the scheme of advance ruling have been introduced in the respective statutes i.e. Customs Act, 1962, Central
Excise Act, 1944 and the Finance Act, 1994 (relating to Service Tax) vide the
Finance Acts of 1999,2003 and 2005.
4. Under the
scheme of advance ruling an "applicant" in the following categories can file an
application for obtaining an advance ruling:
(i)
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(a) a non-resident setting up a joint venture in India in
collaboration with a non-resident or a resident; or
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(b) a resident setting up a joint venture in India in
collaboration with a non-resident; or
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(c) a
wholly owned subsidiary Indian company, of which the holding company is a
foreign company, who or which, as the case may be, proposes to undertake any
business activity in India;
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(ii)
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a joint venture in India; or
"Explanation. - For the purposes of this clause,
"joint venture in India" means a contractual arrangement whereby
two or more persons undertake an economic activity which is subject to joint
control and one or more of the participants or partners or equity holders is
a non-resident having substantial interest in such arrangement;".
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(iii)
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a resident falling within any such class or category of
persons, as the Central Government may, by notification in the Official
Gazette, specify in this behalf,
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and which or who, as the case may be, makes application
for advance ruling under sub-section (1) of section 28H of the Customs Act or
sub section (1) of Section 23C of the Central Excise Act or sub section (1)
of Section 96C of the Finance Act, 1994.
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The Central Government has specified the following
categories of persons as being eligible to seek advance rulings:
(a)
Any Public Sector Company;
(b)
Residents proposing to import
goods under the project import facility (heading 9801 of the Customs Tariff)
for seeking rulings under the Customs Act, 1962;
(c)
Residents proposing to import
goods from Singapore under the Comprehensive Economic Co-operation Agreement
for seeking rulings on origin of goods under the Customs Act, 1962.
(d) Resident Public Limited Company.
(e) Resident Private Limited Company.
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{NOTE 1: "Resident",
"Non-resident", "Indian company", "Foreign company" and "Public Sector
Company" have the meanings respectively assigned to them in clauses (42),
(30), (26), (23A) and (36A) of section 2 read with sub-section (3) of section
6 of the Income- tax Act, 1961 (43 of 1961).
NOTE 2: "Public
Limited Company" shall have the same meaning as is assigned to "Public
Company" in clause (iv) of sub-section (1) of Section 3 of the Companies Act,
1956 (1 of 1956) and shall include a private company that becomes a public
company by virtue of section 43A of the said Companies Act, 1956 read
with Section 2 (71) of the Companies Act, 2013.
NOTE 3: "Private
Limited Company" shall have the same meaning as is assigned to "private
company" in clause (68) of section 2 of the Companies Act, 2013 (18 of 2013)}
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5.
Advance rulings can be sought in respect of :
Customs :
· Classification
of any goods under the Customs Tariff Act, 1975;
· Applicability of a notification issued under sub section (1)
of Section 25 of the Customs Act, 1962 having a bearing on the rate of duty;
·
Principles to
be adopted for the purposes of determination of value of goods under the
provisions of Customs Act, 1962.
· Applicability of notifications issued in respect of duties
under the Customs Act, 1962, Customs Tariff Act, 1975 and any duty chargeable
under any other law for the time being in force in the same manner as duty of
customs under the Customs Act, 1962.
· Determination of origin of goods in terms of the rules
notified under the Customs Tariff Act, 1975 and matters related thereto.
Central
Excise :
· Classification of goods under the Central Excise Tariff Act,
1985;
· Applicability of a notification issued under sub-section (1)
of Section 5 A of the
Central Excise Act, 1944 having a bearing
on the rate of duty;
· Principles to adopted for the purposes of determination of
value of goods under the Central Excise Act, 1944;
· Applicability of notifications issued under the Central
Excise Act, 1944, Central Excise Tariff Act, 1985 and any duty chargeable under
any other law for the time being in force in the same manner as duty of excise leviable under
the Central Excise Act, 1944;
· Admissibility of credit of excise duty paid or deemed to
have been paid on the goods used in or in relation to the manufacture of
excisable goods (Cenvat);
·
Determination
of the liability to pay duties of excise on any goods under this Act.
Service Tax:
· Classification of any service as taxable service under
Chapter V of the Finance Act, 1994;
· Valuation of taxable services for charging service tax;
· Principles to be adopted for the purposes of determination
of value of taxable service under the provisions of Chapter V;
· Applicability of notifications issued under Chapter V;
· Admissibility of credit of duty or tax in terms of the rules
made in this regard;
·
Determination of
the liability to pay service tax on a taxable service under the provisions of
Chapter V.
6. Authority
for Advance Rulings is entrusted with the responsibility of processing the
applications and pronouncement of advance rulings on the issues/questions
raised therein within the statutory period of 90 days of receipt of the
application. In the procedure of pronouncing the advance rulings all the
accepted judicial norms are scrupulously observed. The procedure adopted
is transparent, expeditious and economical for the benefit of the intending
investor.
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