Assessment can be Done based on Transaction Value of goods available at Time of filing of Bill of Entry: CESTAT [Read Order]

The transaction value of imported goods has to be assessed by the bill of entry which is available at the time of import. 

The New Delhi bench of the Customs, Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal (CESTAT) held that the assessment can be done based on what was available at the time of filing of the Bill of Entry and not anticipating what may happen in the future. 

Javeria Impex India Pvt. Ltd, the appellant assessee was an importer and imported electric motors from China and filed two Bills of Entry the department alleged that the declared transactional value of goods was comparatively low. 

The assessee appealed against the order passed by the adjudicating authority for the confiscation of goods seized under section 110 of the Customs Act,1962 but they were later released provisionally on execution of bonds and bank guarantees. 

Vaibhav Singh, the counsel for the assessee contended that the goods should be valued as per transaction value as there was no evidence of any payment through Hawala or any other direct or indirect payment by the importer to the overseas seller and no evidence to this effect was put forth by the Revenue. 

Rakesh Kumar, the counsel for the department contended that once the assessee accepted in writing the proposed transaction value based on the National Importer Database (NIDB) data, it cannot be permitted to play cat and mouse game and now (after goods have been cleared) dispute the very values which it had accepted in writing. 

The Bench observed that it was a well-settled legal principle that when goods are assessed based on values of contemporaneous imports, they refer to only imports that had already taken place, i.e., past Bills of Entry, and not based on Bills of Entry which may be filed in future. 

The two-member bench comprising Rachna Gupta (Judicial) and Subba Rao (Technical) upheld the rejection of transactional value which was declared by the assessee. 

To Read the full text of the Order CLICK HERE

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