Ministry of Commerce and Industry releases Instructions to Reduce Compliance Burden regarding SOFTEX Forms [Read Instruction]
Ministry of Commerce and Industry – Ministry of Commerce – Instructions to Reduce Compliance Burden regarding SOFTEX Forms – SOFTEX Forms – Compliance Burden – Taxscan
Ministry of Commerce and Industry – Ministry of Commerce – Instructions to Reduce Compliance Burden regarding SOFTEX Forms – SOFTEX Forms – Compliance Burden – Taxscan
The Ministry of Commerce and Industry released the instructions to reduce the compliance burden regarding the SOFTEX Forms vide instruction No.113 on 14th July 2023 addressing all All Development Commissioners of Special Economic Zones (SEZs).
The Department of Commerce and Industry authorities has informed that SOFTEX is the system established by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to gather export data for statistical and monitoring purposes.
In this regard, please refer to the enclosed copy of the RBI Guidelines, which outline the reporting requirements for foreign exchange transactions via the FETERS system, utilizing specific purpose codes that correspond to the nature of the transactions.
For SEZ units, the submission of the SOFTEX Form is carried out online via the SEZ-Online portal by the service units. Subsequently, upon approval from the office of the Development Commissioners (DC), the form is then submitted to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
It has been observed by the authorities that certain SEZ units are submitting physical copies of invoices and, in some cases, even physical copies of SOFTEX forms for verification to the DC office, despite the fact that these documents are filed digitally online.
It has also been noted that in the case of units in Software Technology Parks of India (STPI), the practice of submitting physical copies of SOFTEX forms and invoices has been discontinued.
As a step towards improving the ease of doing business, it has been determined to eliminate the requirement of submitting physical copies of SOFTEX forms and invoices by SEZ units.
Therefore, for verification purposes, any document, including the pertinent invoices, can be obtained electronically from the units with the approval of the DC. In exceptional circumstances that call for more thorough verification, the DC may allow the request for sample copies of relevant invoices in physical format on a case-by-case basis.
To Read the full text of the Order CLICK HERE
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