Central excise duty on gold bullion

[Raginee Goyal]

What is the rate of duty on manufacture of pure gold bullion from raw gold/ gold dust/ dore bars by refining process?

[YAGAY and SUN]

Pure gold does not attract any Excise Duty.

[Anil Kumar]

Under Chapter heading 7108 gold attracts 12% duty.  However, Notification no. 12/2012 CE dated 17.3.2012 has prescribed effective rate of duty in respect of different forms of gold.  Under Sl.No.188 "Primary gold converted with the aid of power from any form of gold other than gold ore, concentrate or dore bar" attracts Nil duty.  The explanation provides that "primary gold" means gold in any unfinished or semi-finished form and includes ingots, bars, blocks, slabs, billets, shots, pellets, rods, sheets, foils and wires.  Under Sl.No.189 Gold bars, other than tola bars, bearing manufacturer‘s engraved serial number and weight expressed in metric units manufactured in a factory starting from the stage of-

(a) Gold ore or concentrate; (b) Gold dore bar; or (c) Silver dore bar attracts 3% duty. The explanation thereunder is as under:

 Explanation.- For the purposes of this entry, ‘gold dore bar’ shall mean dore bars having gold content not exceeding 95% and ‘silver dore bar’ shall mean dore bars having silver content not exceeding 95% accompanied by an assay certificate issued by the mining company, giving details of composition

[NEERAJ KUMAR, RANCHI]

 Pure gold attracts Nil rate of duty.

AI Summary

Excise duty on gold bullion: primary gold converted by power attracts nil duty; certain manufactured gold bars face reduced duty.
Excise duty on gold is set by notification-based effective rates: primary gold converted with the aid of power from forms other than ore, concentrate or dore bars is liable to nil duty; certain gold bars manufactured from ore, gold dore bars or silver dore bars and bearing a manufacturer's engraved serial number and metric weight attract a reduced duty. The notification defines primary gold to include various unfinished and semi finished forms and prescribes composition thresholds for gold and silver dore bars, the latter requiring an assay certificate from the mining company.