AEO Tiers 2, 3 can make deferred customs duty payment

The Dollar Business Bureau

The CBEC via Customs notification 134/2016-Customs (N.T) & 135/2016-Customs (N.T.) dated 2nd November, 2016, now permits importers certified as AEOTier 2 and AEO Tier 3 to make deferred payment of duties.

As per the notification the 'eligible importer' or the AEOs as specified above shall be eligible for the following benefits:

1. Every importer certified as AEO-T2/AEO-T3 shall obtain ICEGATE Login which is essential to avail benefits envisaged in the AEO Programme.

2. In order to avail the facility of deferred payment, every AEOT2/AEO-T3 is advised to nominate a nodal person on their establishment who would be responsible for authenticating all the customs related transactions on behalf of the AEO. 

3. Since the option of deferred payment has been extended only to AEO (Tier-Two) and AEO (Tier-Three), it is important for the AEO to exercise due caution in nominating the AEO nodal person to prevent misuse of facility of deferred payment. 

4. The contact details of AEO nodal person shall also be provided in ICEGATE login to ensure that the information reaches in time at their registered mail for authentication.

5. The eligible importer who intends to make deferred payment shall indicate the same using flag “D” in the Payment Method column of Bill of Entry filed.

6. In order to ensure that the facility of deferred payment is availed only by the eligible importer, option has been provided in ICEGATE Login for AEO Nodal person to acknowledge such intent and authenticate using One Time Password (OTP) sent to his registered e-mail address.

7. The Nodal person would be able to authenticate multiple Bills of Entry at once. Only on such authentication by the eligible AEO importer, customs clearance would be provided for the consignment under deferred payment of duty Rules.

8. The eligible importer can pay duty on the dates as specified in Rule 6 which details the following:

a. for goods corresponding to Bill of Entry returned for payment from 1st to 15th day of the month, duty can be paid on the 17th day of that month

b. for goods corresponding to Bill of Entry returned for payment from the 16th till the last day of the month, the duty shall be paid on the 2nd day of the following month

c. In the month of March,for goods corresponding to Bill of Entry returned for payment from 16th to 29th shall be paid by March 31st.

d. for goods corresponding to Bill of Entry returned for payment from 30th to 31st of March shall be paid by April 2nd.

9. The eligible importer also has an option to select the challans belonging to the deferred period and pay at anytime, even before the due date at their convenience.