| Q.1
|
Who is a Custom House
Agent ? |
| Ans.
|
"Custom House Agent"
is a person licensed, temporarily or otherwise, under the regulations
made under sub-section (2) of section 146 of the Customs Act,
1962. A person is permitted to operate as a customs house agent,
temporarily under regulation 8(1) and permanently under regulation
10, of the Customs House Agents Licensing Regulations, 1984. |
| Q.2
|
What is the Taxable
Service in the case of a Custom House Agent ? |
| Ans.
|
The taxable services
rendered by a Custom House Agent (CHA) means any service provided
to a client by a CHA in relation to the entry or departure of
conveyances or the import or export of goods.
The services rendered by CHA are not merely limited to the clearing
of the import and export consignment. The CHA also renders the
service of loading/unloading of import or export goods from/at
the premises of the exporter/importer, the packing, weighment,
measurement of the export goods, the transportation of the export
goods to the customs station or the import goods from the formalities
such as payment of expenses on account of octroi, destuffing
/pelletisation terminal handling, fumigation, drawback/DEEC
processing, survey /amendment fees, dock fees, repairing and
examination charges, landing and container charges, statutory
labour charges, testing fees, drug control formalities, sorting
/marking/stamping/sealing on expenses such as crane/fork lift
charges, taxi charges, photostat and fax charges, bank collection
charges, courier service charges, and miscellaneous other expenses
on account of the importer /exporter. For all the above charges,
the CHA is ordinarily reimbursed by the importer/ exporter for
whom the above services are rendered. Apart from the above charges,
the CHA also charges the client for his services under the head
/nomenclature of "agency and attendance charges " or similar
kind of heads which is purported to be his service charge in
respect of the services rendered in relation to the import/export
goods. |
| Q.3 |
What
is the value of Taxable Service in case of custom house agent? |
| Ans. |
The value
of the taxable service provided by a CHA to a client is the
gross amount charged by such agent from the client for services
rendered in any manner in relation to import or export of goods.
The Service Tax is to be computed only on the gross service
charges, by whatever head/nomenclature, billed by the CHA to
the client. Sometimes, the charges for service are shown as
"agency commission", "charges", "agency and attendance charges",
"agency charges" or other similar descriptions. The Service
Tax will be computed only with reference to such charges. The
payments made by CHA on behalf of the client, such as statutory
levies (Cess, Customs Duties, Port dues etc.) and various other
reimbursible expenses incurred are not to be included in the
value of taxable service for computing the Service Tax. |
| Q.4 |
What
is the value of taxable service provided by a CHA in case of
turnkey Import / Export ? |
| Ans. |
In many
cases the CHA provides services for imports and exports on turnkey
basis where a lump sum amount is charged from the client for
undertaking various services. The said lump sum amount covers
not only the "agency commission" fee but also other expenses
and no separate break-up is given in respect of these expenses.
In such cases, the value of the taxable Service Tax shall be
15% of the lump sum amount charged to the client. Service Tax
of 5% will be chargeable on the above 15%. |
| Q.5 |
Is Service
Tax chargeable separately from Sub-Contractor CHA, where main
CHA sub contracts work to another CHA located in other station
? |
Ans.
|
Whenever
CHAs sub-contract their work to CHAs located in other stations,
it is possible that the sub contracting CHA raises the bill
on the main CHA who in turn raises the bill to the client. In
such cases the sub-contracting CHA will not be required to pay
Service Tax on the bills raised by him on the main CHA. The
Service Tax will be payable by the CHA who provides the actual
service to the client and raises the bill on the client. |
Q.6
|
Would
Centralised registration/payment of tax be permitted in the
case of CHAs having office in different places but bills are
raised in the central office ? |
| Ans..
|
Yes. Even
if the C.H.A. has many branches at different stations, but the
billing is done only from the main or central office, only such
office needs to be registered for Service Tax purposes. |
| Q.7 |
Is the
Service Tax leviable on the charges received by CHA from the
Shipping Lines for canvassing of Import / Export cargo? |
| Ans |
No. The
payment received by the CHA from the Shipping Lines for canvassing
of Import / export Cargo, would not be chargeable to Service
Tax as these activities do not fall within the ambit of taxable
services provided by a CHA. |
| Q.8 |
Is the
service provided by a CHA to any Government Department exempted
from payment of Service Tax? |
| Ans.
|
No. The
service provided by a CHA to the Government Department has not
been exempted from payment of Service Tax. |
| Q.9 |
Are the
services provided by CHAs to Diplomatic Missions exempt from
payment of service tax? |
Ans.
|
Not always,
only the services rendered by CHAs to UN or certain International
organisations and a few notified diplomatic missions are exempt
from payment of Service Tax. |
