Section I  (General Information)

  (1)    What is assessee code and is it different from Registration number, “ECC” code and “STC”?  

            They are all one and the same. The assessee code is a 15-character identification number allotted by the system to the Central Excise or Service Tax assessee based on PAN number or a temporary number (in cases where PAN could not be submitted). The 15-character assessee code will be available in the registration certificate issued to the assessee.      

(2)       What is Location Code? How does one get it?  What is Commissionerate code, Division code and Range Code? 

                   Location Code is a six digit code representing the precise jurisdiction of the Central Excise or Service Tax formation under which a particular assessee falls. The first two of which represent the Commissionerate, the second two digits represent the Division under that Commissionerate and the last two digits represent the Range under the Division.  It is very important to fill up the location code properly for correct accounting of the tax paid.  

If you are a Central Excise assessee, CLICK HERE to know your location code.  

If you are a Service Tax assessee, CLICK HERE to know your location code.         

(3)       Is thePAN based registration number mandatory for e-payment? If the PAN based registration number is not available in the Banker’s database, what should be done? Who should be contacted? 

From January 22, 2008 onwards, it was mandatory for all assesses to quote their assessee code in the GAR-7 challan at the time of payment of excise duty or excise duty in the authorized bank branches. The banks were advised by RBI to ensure that the taxpayer has quoted a valid assessee code (15 digit Registration Number) in the challan prior to acceptance of the challan by the bank. 

To ensure that challans which are accepted by the authorized bank branches do not get rejected on account of invalid assessee code at the EASIEST central system, the banks were to download the incremental assessee code directory which is updated on the EASIEST website on a daily basis.

RBI vide circular dated July 29^th, 2010, instructed banks as follows:

Sl. No.	Situation	Action
1.	Assessee code is present in the directory	If the assessee code is present in the directory, thenthe bank branch should accept the challan and at thetime of digitization of the records to be uploaded toEASIEST (RT 51), should populate the locationcode of the assessee as present in the directory.
2.	Assessee code is not present in the directory	i) If the assessee code is not present in the directory(in case the bank has not downloaded the latestdirectory), then the bank should verify the assesseecode at the NSDL-EASIEST / NSDL-CBECwebsite (https://cbec-easiest.gov.in). The feature tosearch on the assessee code is provided in thewebsite. ii) If the assessee code is present at the NSDLEASIEST website, the bank should accept thechallan and the assessee code and location code should be digitized as displayed at the NSDL-EASIEST website.
3.	Assessee code is not present in the directory or in the NSDL-EASIEST / NSDL-CBECwebsite (https://cbec-easiest.gov.in)	In such instances, the banks should ask the assesseeto take up the issue with CBEC for necessary action

            To verify the availability of the Registration Number in CBEC/NSDL database, CLICK HERE(This utility serves the dual purpose of confirming the availability of the Registration details in department’s database and generation of an error-free GAR-7 challan for the taxpayer.)   

(4)    My Range / Division Officer has confirmed the availability of my Registration Number in the CBEC database.  Yet, the Banks are not accepting my payment, as the same is not in their database. What should I do?

             Please see the case at Sl. No. 2 in the table above.                   

(5)    I don’t have a PAN based registration, but I want to make a payment towards my old arrears.  Can I make the payment without having to get myself registered? 

         It is necessary to have a valid registration number from the Central Excise/Service Tax Department for making any payment. If you are not a regular assesse with the department but needs to effect e-payment, you can obtain registration as "Non-assessee" by logging into http://www.aces.gov.in and choosing the option "CENTRAL EXCISE" or "SERVICE TAX"         

(6)    How will a non-assessee without a registration number pay any arrears or make any miscellaneous payment?

        Any person who wants to make payment of Central Excise duty or Service Tax but is not a registered assessee will have to get registered as ‘non-assessee’ under ACES at http://www.aces.gov.in. The Reserve Bank had issued instruction no. RBI/2008-09/165 dated 05.09.2008 to the banks to accept payments by such registered ‘non-assessees’.           

(7)      I have transferred my unit from one location to another resulting in change of commissionerate/division/range. But my e-Payment cyber receipt shows the old Commissionerate/division/range name. What should I do?  

         Change in location code and any other amendments to the Registration details are initiated by the Assessee and as and when they get approved by proper officer, the ACES system gets updated accordingly. The discrepancy might be due to non-updation of Master Directories by the concerned banks or M/s NSDL.  In this regard, Assessee may contact the jurisdictional officer.

(8)    My Bankers have implemented the CORE Banking solution.  Can I make e-payment of Excise Duty and Service Tax, in any of their branches?  

         The Core Banking solution implemented by the Banks caters to the needs of the clients of that particular bank. The client is given the facility to transact from anywhere within the country.  

         In case of e-payment of taxes, the branches do not come into the picture as the person does not go to any branch to make payment of the taxes.  When the customer/tax payer registers with the bank authorized for collecting taxes through internet banking, the bank gives the web address, the username and password to their client.  The transaction occurs in the books of accounts of the bank and the tax gets credited to the Government Account. The Principal Chief Controller of Accounts has authorized certain banks to receive taxes through internet banking ( e-payment).

         In case of manual payment, the taxes are tendered physically in a bank branch along with the G.A.R.7 challan and that particular bank should have been authorized to receive the taxes in that area.

         The list of banks in which a taxpayer can make e-payment as well as the list of banks authorized to receive taxes through its branches, is available on the Website http://pccacbec.nic.in/index.html. The local Range/Divisional Office or Technical Section in the Commissionerate can also be contacted for this information.  

(9)    The Counterfoil given at the bank does not contain the Challan Identification Number (shortly referred to as CIN), which number should I quote in my return?  

The bank has to necessarily give CIN for the payment made by you.  CIN is the combination of:

a.      BSR Code which is 7 digits (unique for each Bank Branch),

b.      Date of tender/deposit which is 8 digits (DDMMYYYY) and

c.      Challan Serial Number (5 digits) given by the Branch for each transaction.

All these details should appear in the computerized acknowledgement/receipt that must be demanded by the Assessee.  

(10)   How do I know the correct accounting code for my service?

The accounting codes can be accessed at the link  https://cbec-easiest.gov.in/EST/InputPageForEPaymentServlet. Here, the user needs to enter a valid assessee code to view the accounting codes in respect of Central Excise / Service tax.

(11)     I have made a payment of ₹ 100,000/- through a GAR-7 challan.  My Range Officer says that the amount is not tallying with the data uploaded by Banks.  Whom should I contact?

         The bank should be approached with the copy of acknowledgement/receipt and should be asked to initiate necessary action for rectification of the error.

         Further, the bank can be requested to give a certificate of payment, where the amount remitted is recorded both in words and figures. The Range Officer may then be given a copy of such certificate, with a request to reconcile the matter with concerned PAO.

(12)   What is e-Filing, EASIEST and E-Payment?

         e-filing is the facility given by CBEC to file returns online. 

         EASIEST (Electronic Accounting System in Excise and Service Tax) is the mechanism for payment of Central Excise duties and Service taxes. In EASIEST, the taxpayer has to submit only one copy of the GAR-7 challan as against the old procedure of giving 4 copies of TR-6 challans in the Bank. The counterfoil of the challan will be kept by the bank and a computerized printout of the data entered by the bank will be given to the taxpayer as a receipt / acknowledgement. The CIN (Challan Identification Number) has to be quoted in the Excise/Service Tax return in the space provided for it. CIN is the combination of:  

                           a.       BSR Code which is 7 digits (unique for each Bank Branch),

                           b.      Date of tender/deposit which is 8 digits (DDMMYYYY) and

                           c.       Challan Serial Number (5 digits) given by the Branch for each transaction.

There is no need for the taxpayer to attach a copy of the challan with the return.

e-payment is a facility extended by various Banks for making Central Excise/Service Tax payments through online Banking.  The taxpayer need not personally go to the Bank to make the payment.  The taxpayer has to get a user-id and password from one of the banks providing the facility for making e-Payment. Visit https://cbec-easiest.gov.in/EST/InputPageForEPaymentServlet

(13)   What is a computer generated acknowledgement of GAR 7 challan? 

         The receiving bank branches of the nominated banks in EASIEST are to issue computerized challan receipt as an acknowledgement to the assessee. The collecting/receiving bank branches would hand over this receipt to the assessee as an acknowledgement/proof of the tax payment. This computer generated acknowledgement of GAR 7 challan would be given to the taxpayer after putting the signature and seal of the authorized signatory in token of receipt of the amount.  This would serve as the taxpayer’s receipt for payment made.  The collecting / receiving bank branch would retain the tear off counterfoil of the GAR 7 challan submitted by taxpayer. The words “Taxpayer’s counterfoil” appearing in the GAR 7 challan would be substituted by the word “Counterfoil”. The computerized printout should necessarily have the following information: -

             1.  Bank code  

             2.  Branch code

             3.  Date of Tender of challan

             4.  Challan sequence number

             5.  Name of the Assessee

             6.  Assessee code

             7.  Location code (Commissionerate + Division + Range code)

             8.  Major Head code

             9.  The eight digit Accounting code for duty / cess in case of payments of Central Excise and Service code in case of Service Tax.

           10.  Amount of duty / tax paid for each of the Accounting code

           11.  Total amount

           12.  Collection indicator / Mode of payment

           13.  Date of realization of the instrument.

                 (Serial no 9 & 10, are to be repeated for payments made under different heads)

           The above details should necessarily be there in the computerized printout. The banks, if they wish can give a printout of the entire details captured by them.

Section II  (Issues and Resolution)

Qn   1.  I have quoted the Challan Identification Number (CIN) given by the bank in my excise / service tax return. But an error message “The challan quoted by you does not excise or does not belong to you” is displayed.

Ans: Assessee can check the CIN - challan number using the NSDL website https://onlineservices.cbec-easiest.gov.in/csi/index.html  (Challan Status Query > CIN based View). This link is also provided on ACES website, viz., “Know Status of Challan” under Highlights Section. If the CIN exists in the NSDL website, no need to worry. Your challan would be uploaded into the NSDL website in due course. In case, your challan is not found on the NSDL website, please contact the collecting bank / branch for immediate resolution. If the issue remains unresolved, the same may be brought to the knowledge of the Range Officer or a complaint can be lodged with [email protected]

Qn 2   I have made e-payment / manual payment , but my challan details are not available in NSDL.

Ans:  Please contact the concerned bank / branch for immediate resolution. If unresolved, the same may be brought to the knowledge of the Range Officer or a complaint can be lodged with [email protected]

Qn. 3  I have made the e-payment, but inadvertently a wrong assessee code was entered.

Ans: Correction of challan in case of e-payment is not possible. Presently, refund is the only process available for the assessee in such cases. Hence, care needs to be taken while tendering e-payment of Central Excise Duties / Service tax.

Qn. 4  I have made e-payment, but inadvertently quoted a wrong assessee code / service.

Ans:  Correction of challan in e-payment is not possible.  Presently, refund is the only process available for the assessee in such cases. Hence, care needs to be taken while tendering e-payment of Central Excise Duties / Service tax.

Qn. 5  I have tendered central Excise Duty / service tax using manual GAR-7 Challan across the counter. But it is found that the assessee code quoted in the challan is wrong.

Ans:  As long as the Assessee Name quoted in the challan is unchanged, a request to the collecting bank may be made for change of the assessee code, provided the assessee code contained the same assessee name (this happens in the case of group units having same PAN Number but different assessee code such as PAN No. + EM001, EM002, EM003.)  Of course due request and approval from the jurisdictional Commissioner may be obtained for such change before giving the request to the collecting bank. On receipt of such request, the collecting bank would upload RT-58 Correction challan whereby necessary corrections are effected.

Qn.  6 My unit has been registered with ACES. However, the bank is refusing to accept my payment stating the assessee code is not present in the bank master.

Ans: Availability of the assessee code in NSDL can be checked using the following link :

             https://cbec-easiest.gov.in/EST/AssesseeVerification.do

            If the assessee code is present in the NSDL website, kindly request the bank to update Bank’s assessee master from NSDL website. If the issue is unresolved, or a complaint lodged with [email protected].  

Qn. 7  In the NSDL website,  using the hyperlink https://cbec-easiest.gov.in/EST/AssesseeVerification.do,  Name of the Assessee, Address and Location Code - Commissionerate / Division / Range Code are displayed.  If there is an error in any of the fields to whom should I approach ?

Ans:  In case of errors in the NSDL website, please contact the jurisdictional Range Superintendent for necessary correction action. In case the issue is not resolved, the same may be reported to ACES Service Desk at [email protected]

Qn.  8   Can I download the format for GAR-7Challan ?

Ans.  It can be downloaded using the hyperlink https://onlineservices.cbec-easiest.gov.in/csi/downloads.html  (Downloads section in the NSDL website:https://cbec-easiest.gov.in/EST/)

Assessee Code validation: banks must verify registration and location codes before accepting tax challans and issue computerized acknowledgements promptly. The guidance mandates quoting the 15 character Assessee Code and the six digit Location Code on GAR 7 challans for EASIEST payments, requires banks to validate codes via daily NSDL/EASIEST directories or online search and to issue computerized GAR 7 acknowledgements containing CIN and specified fields. Where codes are missing from bank directories and NSDL, taxpayers must engage CBEC/NSDL; erroneous e payment entries cannot be corrected and presently require refund, while limited corrections for manual challans may be effected by banks using RT 58 upon jurisdictional approval.