Wrong bill of entry

[Guest]

Dear sir,

we imported two black pepper from Sri Lanka under safta certificate first time and the duty under safta notification no 068/2012 73(2) is 8 percent and 5 percent gst

my CHA or me made a mistake and filed bill of entry under safta notification no 26/2000 and paid no duty as bill of entry was appraised by appraiser under rms

and goods got cleared and already sold

now as we came to know we paid demand draft of duty along with interest of 18 percent to customs which they accepted

can we be penalised or fined for this mistake ?

what is the maximum fine and penalty of any ?

[YAGAY andSUN]

You may take shelter of Section 149 of the Customs Act, 1962 in this matter and apply for refund.

[MADAN RAHEJA]

As I understand from your query, the duty was short paid by mistake and on coming to know about it, you on your own have deposited the same with interest and have informed the proper officer in writing about it. In such a case, Section 28(2) of Customs Act mandates that no SCN is required to be issued and no penalty is to be imposed by the department. Condition for this concession is that there should be no suppression of facts, mis-statement etc. by assessee. In my view, your case is fully covered under this provision. However, in case, show cause notice is issued to you alleging suppression etc., the same can be contested or got settled within 30 days with penalty of 15% of duty involved in terms of Section 28(5) of Customs Act.

[Kishan Barai]

No worries at all

AI Summary

Voluntary disclosure can bar penalties when a duty shortfall is corrected and the officer is promptly notified. An incorrect bill of entry that resulted in short payment was rectified by voluntary deposit of the duty and interest and written notification to customs. Section 149 may support a refund application, but Section 28(2) protects voluntary disclosures from show cause notices and penalties provided there is no suppression; if a notice alleging concealment is issued, the case can be contested or settled within the statutory window under Section 28(5).