Manual No. 1

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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 4^th 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)	(a) a non-resident setting up a joint venture in India in collaboration with a non-resident or a resident; or
	(b) a resident setting up a joint venture in India in collaboration with a non-resident; or
	(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;
(ii)	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;".
(iii)	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,
	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.

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.

{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)}

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.