COMPENDIUM
on
EASIEST
(Electronic Accounting System in Excise and Service Tax)
(as on 7th January 2013)
***Updated as on 1st June, 2014
INDEX
(1) EASIEST - Overview
(2) RBI Instructions
(3) PAO instructions
(4) FAQ’s on EASIEST
*****
Compiled by
Office of ADG (Systems & Data Management),
South Zonal Unit, Chennai.
1
1. EASIEST PROJECT – AN OVERVIEW
Introduction:
The Electronic Accounting System in Excise and Service Tax (EASIEST) project was
launched in March 2007 and made operational in all Central Excise and Service Tax
Commissionerates from April, 2007.
See the process document in Pr.CCA website
http://pccacbec.nic.in/. The objective is to make available accurate tax payment data from banks
for revenue and tax payer accounting. Under this system, data through all modes of payment
including e-payment is captured by banks in the agreed format and uploaded in electronic form and
made available to the Department through NSDL website. The challans are being transmitted from
NSDL to ACES application on daily basis, so that the Departmental Officers can perform scrutiny
of periodical returns filed by the Assessees through ACES. For improving data quality of Internet
payments the EASIEST e-payment portal was developed. This is a web based feature which
interfaces with the e-payment portals of the tax collecting banks. It is operational since November
2008. The various validations of the challans are done at this level before forwarding it to the
bank’s site for the financial transaction. Since September 2010, the assessee code has been made
mandatory for making EASIEST payments. As on 31-03-2012, 27 banks are authorized and have
got linked with this portal. For the period from 1st April 2011 to 31-03-2012, about 60 Lakh
challans have been uploaded by the banks. 97% of the revenue in Central Excise and 82% of
revenue in Service tax is through e-payment.
Outcomes of the project
1. With the implementation of EASIEST, it has become possible to ascertain the gross
revenue collection figures for Central Excise and Service Tax on a daily basis by the
senior management in CBEC. Web based MIS have been developed to monitor the tax
collection.
2. Capture of the unique Assessee code in EASIEST data enables accounting of the tax
paid by each taxpayer.
3.
Automation in Central Excise and Service Tax (ACES) project has automated the
workflow in the Central Excise and Service Tax Commissionerates. The data from
EASIEST will be used by the ACES application and will assist in system verification of
tax payment.
4. As part of the EASIEST project, the taxpayer is able to verify the status of tax payment
over internet. This not only increases transparency but also provides a sense of
confidence in the taxpayer that the taxes paid are correctly credited.
Resources available on the websites for taxpayers
 In ACES Application (aces.gov.in), a link to NSDL website is provided (https://cbeceasiest.gov.in) so that Assessee Code Based Search, Challan Status, Gateway for E-
2




payment of CE & ST, FAQs and Downloads (GAR-7 Format with Accounting Codes for
payment).
easiest-cbec@nic.in has been created to handle queries of the taxpayers and banks.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) on EASIEST on http:// cbec.gov.in
Facility for online verification of tax payment status on https://cbec-easiest.gov.in.
Facility for verification of assessee registration details like name, address, and location
code’ using the link ‘Assessee Code Based Search on https://cbeceasiest.gov.in/EST/AssesseeVerification.do
EASIEST MIS Reports
The EASIEST MIS are web based reports which can be used to monitor the tax collection as
well as quality of data. The reports are user friendly and simple to use and can be exported to
excel or printed and are sortable. The following broad categories of reports are available for
EASIEST are
1. EASIEST Collection reports which show collections based on the challan data of Central
Excise Duty and Service Tax uploaded by banks. The types of report under this category are:
Report
Summary Report
Chief
Commissionerwise
Wise
collection
Report
Top
Assessee
Report
Top
25/50/100/500/1000
taxpayers
for
selected period
- For ST Users,
enhanced
upto
5000 top Assessees.
Information Available
 Gross collection amount
 Accounting code wise breakup
 current and previous year
figures and growth percentage
thereof
 Excise and Service Tax
collection
 Accounting code wise breakup
 current and previous year
figures and growth percentage
thereof
 Payments by Top taxpayers
 Major Accounting code wise
top tax payers
 Minor account codewise and
servicewise top taxpayers
 e-payment
and
physical
payments
An enhancement
provided
for
3
Levels
 All India
 All India
 Chief Commissioner
 Commissioner
 All India
 Chief Commissioner
 Commissioner(Divisio
n and range)
viewing the challan
wise details of top
assessees.
e-payment Report
 e-payment
and
physical
payments
 Accounting code wise breakup
 The % of e-payment as
compared to physical payment.
 All India
 Chief Commissioner
 Commissioner
2. EASIEST Coverage reports are for monitoring data quality and show the coverage of EASIEST
data in terms of funds and bank branches. The types of report under this category are:


Fund Settlement Statistics Report
Branch Coverage Statistics Report
3. EASIEST Deficiency reports are based on the error records uploaded by banks and give details
branch wise of the various kinds of errors rectified.
4. Invalid assessee code report is for monitoring data quality and gives details bank wise of the
invalid assessee codes for all India, Chief Commissionerate and Commissionerate during a month.
This is applicable for the challans tendered prior to September 2010, after which the system
generated assessee code has been made mandatory.
*******
4
2. RBI – RELEVANT INSTRUCTIONS
Date: Jan 15, 2008
Data quality in Electronic Accounting System in Central Excise & Service Tax (EASIEST)
RBI/2007-08/225
DGBA.GAD.No. H 7633 /41.07.006/2007-08
January 15, 2008
The Chairman & Managing Director / Managing Director
All Agency banks
Dear Sir,
Data quality in Electronic Accounting System in Central Excise & Service Tax (EASIEST)
It has been brought to our notice that the quality of data reported under EASIEST continues to be
poor. Approximately, 45% of the challans do not bear any assessee code. It may please be noted
that indication of assessee code and location code in the G.A.R.7 challan by the tax payer has since
been made mandatory. Banks are, therefore, advised that no payment of Central Excise & Service
Tax should be accepted by bank branches unless the assessee code of the tax-payer is quoted on the
G.A.R.7 challan. At the time of acceptance of the challans, the authorised bank branches should,
therefore, ensure that the 15 digit/character valid assessee code is quoted by the tax-payer in the
challan.
2. The banks while dealing with the receipts under EASIEST may encounter the following
situations which may be dealt with as indicated :
1. Assessee code is If the assessee code is present in the directory, then at the time
present in the of digitization of the records to be uploaded to EASIEST (RT
directory
51), the collecting bank branch should populate the location
code of the assessee as present in the directory.
2. Assessee code is i) If the assessee code is not present in the directory, then the
not present in the bank should verify the assessee code at the NSDL-EASIEST
directory
website (www.cbec.nsdl.com). Feature to search on the
assessee code is provided in the website.
5
ii) If the assessee code is present at the NSDL-EASIEST
website, the bank should accept the challan 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
NSDLEASIEST
website
i) In such instances, the banks should ask the assessee to
produce a copy of the relevant Registration Certificate issued
by the Central Excise or Service Tax Commissionerate /
Division or get a letter from the jurisdictional
Commissionerate / Division indicating the relevant assessee
code. It should be ensured that the assessee has quoted the
location code in the challan.
ii) Banks should verify whether the Commissionerate code
(first two digits of the location code) indicated on the challan
is associated to its branch where the challan is deposited. The
bank should digitize the location code as stated on the challan
while digitization of RT 51.
iii) The complete address of the assessee should be captured
(as per validations in the file format).
4. Assessee does i) In cases where the tax-payer wants to make a payment but
not have a valid does not have a valid assessee code, the bank should ask the
assessee code
tax-payer to produce proof of its PAN / TAN registration. It is
also mandatory for the tax-payer to mention the location code.
ii) After verification of the PAN/TAN, the bank should accept
the challan and digitize the same as under :
Assessee code to be digitized in case of Central Excise (major
account head 0038) as :
1-10
digits
11-12
digits
13-15 digits : ZZZ
:
10-digit
:
PAN
XM
Assessee code to be digitized in case of Service Tax (major
account head 0044) as :
1-10
11-12
digits
:
10-digit
digits
6
PAN
:
/
TAN
ST
13-15 digits : ZZZ
iii) In case the assessee is unable to provide a valid location
code, the location code may be digitized as :
1-2 digits : any Commissionerate Code associated to the bank
branch
3-6 digits : ZZZZ
Location code can also be obtained by clicking on 'Know Your
Location Code' in the website http://exciseandservicetax.nic.in
iv) It will be mandatory to digitize the complete address of the
assessee (as per validations in the file format).
3. With effect from January 22, 2008, RT 51 and 58 records pertaining to challans with cheque
tender date greater than January 22, 2008 will be accepted at NSDL central system only with a
structurally valid assessee code. The banks participating in EASIEST should download the
incremental assessee code directory which is updated on the EASIEST website on a fortnightly
basis. The same can also be accessed by your link cell. NSDL has also provided an internet based
feature for verification of the assessee code on the NSDL-CBEC website (www.cbec.nsdl.com).
The tax-payer can also get details of the assessee code by clicking on 'Know Your Assessee Code'
from the website http://exciseandservicetax.nic.in. Further, the facility of downloading and printing
the G.A.R. 7 Challan available on the website http://exciseandservicetax.nic.in may be given wide
publicity through your designated branches.
Yours faithfully,
(A.S. Kulkarni)
Deputy General Manager
Note : NIC EASIEST application viz http://exciseandservicetax.nic.in is no longer available
now. The EASIEST website www.cbec.nsdl.com has since been changed to https://cbec-easiest.gov.in
7
RBI/2007-2008/256
DGBA.GAD.No. H 9561/41.07.003/2007-08
March 5, 2008
The Chairman & Managing Director / Managing Director
State Bank of India and its Associates/Allahabad Bank/Bank of Baroda/Bank of India/Canara
Bank/Central Bank of India/ Corporation Bank/Dena Bank/Indian Bank/ Indian Overseas
Bank/Punjab
National Bank/Syndicate Bank/United Commercial Bank/Union Bank of India/United Bank of
India/Vijaya
Bank/UTI Bank Ltd/HDFC Bank Ltd/ICICI Bank Ltd/IDBI Ltd
Dear Sir,
Sub.: Cut off time for e-Payment transactions pertaining to Government Revenue
It has been decided in consultation with Central Board of Excise & Customs that e-payment
received upto 8.00 p.m. may be treated as received on that day and payment received after this time
limit may be treated as received on next working day. The permissible time period for deposit of tax
receipts into Government Account in RBI, CAS, Nagpur, delayed remittance thereof and levy of
penal interest etc. would be reckoned with reference to the above norm.
2. Further, we draw your attention to CBEC letter No. Coord.II/6-8/HPC/255 dated October 10,
2007 addressed to all nominated banks regarding issue of cyber receipt as acknowledgement of epayment under EASIEST. In addition to the fields such as CIN number, payment details, unique
transaction number etc. mentioned in the said letter, it must be ensured that the date and time of
transactions is also clearly indicated in the cyber receipt. These are required to be quoted to avoid
any legal issues related to credit to be given to the assessee in terms of the Central Excise Rules,
2002 as amended vide notification dated March 1, 2003, whereby the date of presentation of
cheque/demand draft is treated as date of payment of tax, though the cheque/draft so tendered at the
bank gets cleared on a subsequent day.
3. Necessary instructions may be issued to all your branches concerned.
4. Instructions with respect to CBDT e-payments will be issued separately.
Yours faithfully
(M.T.Varghese)
General Manager
8
RBI/2008-09/165
DGBA.GAD.No. 2286/41.07.006/ 2008-09
September 5, 2008
The Chairman & Managing Director
All agency banks (as per list)
Dear Sir,
Data quality in Electronic Accounting system in
Central Excise and Service Tax (EASIEST)
Please refer to our circular RBI/2007-08/225 DGBA.GAD.No.H-7633 /41.07.006/ 2007-08 dated
January 15, 2008 on the above subject. Point 4 of para 2 thereof deals with situations where
the assessee does not have a valid assessee code. In this connection, we advise that the
Central Excise and Customs has created a new category of registrants (Non-Assessees) in
Central Excise and Service Tax. The registration numbers/codes of these persons will be
generated by the CBEC system and NSDL will be transmitting the same to the Link Cells of the
Banks participating in EASIEST. This new category of assessee will form a part of the Assessee
Directory that is being transmitted to the banks by NSDL presently. The structure of
registration codes of the new Non-Assessees will be as follows:
Central Excise (with PAN): PAN (10 character alphanumeric) + CE (2 character) +
NNN (3 numeric)
Central Excise (without PAN): NAC (constant) + 7 alphabets + CE (2 character) +
NNN (3 numeric)
(11th and 12th character of Excise Assessee Code (PAN based) can be XM/XD/CE)
Service Tax (with PAN): PAN (10 character alphanumeric) + SE (2 character) +
NNN (3 numeric)
Service Tax (without PAN): NAC (constant) + 7 alphabets + SE (2 character) +
NNN (3 numeric)
(11th and 12th character of Service Tax Assessee Code (PAN based) can be ST/SE)
The structure of Assessee code Service Tax (TAN based) will remain unchanged.
2. With the introduction of the new category of codes for non-assessee registrants, banks
should not upload any challans to EASIEST with Assessee code containing ZZZ in the last three
digits (13th to 15th characters).
3. In view of the above, please note that point 4 of paragraph 2 of our circular under reference
stands modified to the extent explained above.
4. You may, therefore, advise your branches that at the time of acceptance of Central Excise
and Service Tax challans if the assessee does not have an assessee code, he should be
advised to get an assessee code from the concerned Commissionerate.
5. In view of the current modification as stated above, following changes will be required in your
software:9
(i) The revised file format of 'Incremental Assessee Code Master' incorporating the
assessee code structural changes as above will be as per Annexure1. The assessee
code master import program at your bank is to be modified.
(ii) The revised file format of RT51 and RT58 will be as per Annexure 2.
6. The Central Excise and Service Tax challans with tender date later than September 30, 2008
with assessee code containing ZZZ in the last three digits (13th to 15th characters) will not be
accepted at NSDL central system. The above validations will be incorporated in the EASIEST
system at NSDL from 10.10.2008.
Yours faithfully
(P.M.Rajagopal)
Assistant General Manager
-----------------------------------RESERVE BANK OF INDIA----------------------www.rbi.org.in
DGBA.GAD.No.H- 850 /41 .07.003/2010-11 July 29, 2010
1.The Chairman/ Managing Director
State Bank of India & its Associate Banks
2.The Chairman and Managing Director
All Nationalised Banks and IDBI Bank Ltd
3.The Managing Director
ICICI Bank Ltd., AXIS Bank Ltd., HDFC Bank Ltd.
Dear Sir/ Madam,
Data quality in Electronic Accounting System in Central Excise and Service Tax (EASIEST)
— Assessee Code Mandatory for Excise and Service Tax payments.
Please refer to our circular RBI /2007-08/225 (DGBA.GAD.No H-7633/ 41.07.006/2007-08) dated
January 15, 2008 on the captioned subject. 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 vide the above referred circular were
advised to ensure that the taxpayer has quoted a valid assessee code in the challan prior to
acceptance of the challan by the bank. This measure has resulted in improvement in the data
received in EASIEST. It is observed that still in around 4% of the challans, the assessee codes are
invalid (i.e. they are structurally valid but not present in the assessee code master) and some of
these challans are high value challans. To address this issue and to ensure 100% correct quoting of
assessee codes in EASIEST, it was decided in the 7th Sub-Committee meeting that if the assessee
code is not present in the assessee code master at the EASIEST central system (NSDL) such records
will be rejected at the central system.
10
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 participating in
EASIEST are advised to download the incremental assessee code directory which is updated on the
EASIEST website on a daily basis. Access to the assessee code directory is provided to
authenticated users (refer NSDL circular TSP/09/EASIEST/27 dated January 27, 2010 at the
NSDL-CBEC / NSDL-EASIEST website : www.cbec.nsdl.com). NSDL has also provided an
internet based feature for verification of the assessee code on the said website. A tax-payer can also
get details of the assessee code at the NSDL-CBEC website under the option ‘Assessee Code Based
Search’ by entering its Assessee code.
The banks while dealing
with the receipts under
EASIEST may encounter
the following situations
which may be dealt with as
indicated :
No.
Situation
Action
1
Assessee code is present in
the directory
2
Assessee code is not
present in the directory
If the assessee code is
present in the directory,
then the bank branch
should accept the challan
and at the time of
digitization of the records
to be uploaded to
EASIEST (RT 51), should
populate the location code
of the assessee as present
in the directory.
i) If the assessee code is
not present in the directory
(in case the bank has not
downloaded the latest
directory), then the bank
should verify the assessee
code at the NSDLEASIEST / NSDL-CBEC
website
(www.cbec.nsdl.com). The
feature to search on the
assessee code is provided
in the website.
ii) If the assessee code is
present at the NSDL
EASIEST website, the
bank should accept the
challan and the assessee
code and location code
should be digitized as
11
displayed at the NSDLEASIEST website.
3
Assessee code is not
present in the directory or
in the NSDL-EASIEST /
NSDL-CBEC website
(www.cbec.nsdl.com)
In such instances, the
banks should ask the
assessee to take up the
issue with CBEC for
necessary action
With effect from September 1, 2010, RT 51 and 58 records pertaining to challans with cheque
tender date greater than September 1, 2010 will be accepted at EASIEST central system (NSDL)
only with a valid assessee code present in the assessee code directory.
Yours faithfully,
(G.C. Biswal)
Deputy General Manager.
The EASIEST website www.cbec.nsdl.com has since been changed to https://cbec-easiest.gov.in
12
3. PAO – RELEVANT INSTRUCTIONS
No.Coord.II/6-8/HFC/255
Office of the
Pr.Chief Controller of Accounts
Central Board of Excise & Customs
A.G.C.R Building, 1st Floor,
I.P.Estate, New Delhi 110 002.
***
Dated: 10-10- 2007.
To
1. The Chief General Manager, RBI, DGBA, Mumbai.
2. Directorate General of System & Data Management.
3. All General Managers Nominated Banks (As per List)
Subject:- Issue of cyber receipt as acknowledgement of e-payment under EASIEST.
****
Sir,
The fifth meeting of the High Powered Committee for Electronic Accounting System in Excise and
Service Tax (EASIEST) held on 30-02-2007 reviewed the procedures for issue of
acknowledgement by post by the banks to the indirect tax payers, in respect of e- Payments. It was
decided that the banks need not send an acknowledgement by post and instead the customers may
be provided a cyber receipt as acknowledgement of payment.
2. In this regard attention of all Banks is invited to para 1.3.6 of the accounting procedure in respect
of EASIEST (circulated with office communication No. EDP/On- Line/2007-08/107 dated 13th
August, 2007). As per the provision cited, for each successful e-Payment (by the tax payer) the
internet banking system is to instantly provide a cyber receipt to the tax payer. The cyber receipt is
to contain all payment details including the unique CIN numbers.
3. All Banks are requested to review their e-Payment system procedures/outputs to ensure that the
tax payers are instantly provided with a cyber receipt, which are downloadable and printable as
provided for in the accounting procedures for EASIEST. These must contain the unique CIN
number in the manner and format as specified. In addition, it must also contain the unique
transaction number which is internal to each bank (as per their requirement)
4. It may also be noted that, in accordance with the decisions of the High Powered Committee, the
accounting procedures (cited above) do not require any acknowledgement to be sent by post to the
taxpayer in respect of e-Payment.
5. It may however be pointed out that as pler paragraph 1.3.4 of the accounting
procedure the internet banking system will forward all the e-receipts with respect to a
particular commissionerate to the concerned focal point branch (FPB). The FPB is to
pool all the e-receipts with its physical collections while preparing the daily scrolls. The
procedures requires the FPBs to print the cyber receipts and enclose them (along with
13
challans in respect of the physical receipts with the scrolls being forwarded to the PAOs.
All banks are to note that there is no change with regard to these procedures.
6. Receipt of this letter may be acknowledged. All banks are also requested to send a
confirmation report with regard to paragraph 3 above.
Yours faithfully,
Sd/(Deepika Jain)
Controller of Accounts
14
To
No.Coord II/6-8/HPC/372
Office of the
Pr.Chief Controller of Accounts
Central Board of Excise and Customs
A.G.C.R Building, 1st Floor,
I.P.Estate, New Delhi.
Dated 11.01.2008
1. The Chief General Manager, RBI, DGBA, Mumbai
2. All General Managers Nominated Banks (As per List)
Subject:- Computer generated acknowledgement of GAR-7 challan or
Electronic acknowledgement of GAR-7 challan.
Sir,
Attention is invited to paras 1.3.2 and 1.3.3 of the Accounting Procedure relating to EASIEST,
whereby the assessee deposits his tax payment on a single copy of the GAR-7 challan and is
provided with a tear off counterfoil attached with the challan as
acknowledgement/proof of tax payment.
2. In the meeting of the High Powered Committee on EASIEST held on 30.07.2007, the issue of
poor data quality and non uploading of challans by the banks in EASIEST was deliberated. It was
felt that this problem could be remedied by the banks being asked to generate a computerized
receipt comprising various details of the GAR 7 challan. While this receipt could be handed over to
the assessee as an acknowledgement/proof of the tax payment, the banks would retain the tear off
counterfoil presently being provided to the assessee. It was felt that this would enable the collecting
branches of the authorized banks to correct any mistakes observed later and upload the corrected
data to the Tax Information Network.
3. It has since been decided in consultation with O/o Controller General of Accounts, Ministry of
Finance and R.B.I that the receiving branches of the nominated banks are to introduce a
computerized challan receipt in lieu of the tear off counterfoil as an acknowledgement to the
assessee.
4. The fields/ design of the computer generated receipt/printout should necessarily contain thirteen
fields of information, most of which are already present in the tax payer’s counterfoil at present. A
model of the computer generated receipt containing all the relevant fields is annexed. While the
banks may decide the spatial placement of data in the computer generated receipt, it must be
ensured that all thirteen fields are necessarily included therein. The banks, if they wish, can give a
printout of the entire details captured by them. The other fields of the RT51, apart from those listed
in annexure including the address field will be optional. It is also essential that the Banks do not
under any circumstances add any additional fields or numbers other than the ones prescribed in the
RT (record type)51 in this computerized printout.
5. The computerized receipt should also bear the signature and seal of the authorized
signatory in token of receipt of the amount.
15
6. It has also been clarified by RBI that the nominated banks will not be reimbursed
any additional cost for the furnishing of the computerized receipt other than the agency
commission at present being paid to them.
7. All banks are requested to issue necessary directions to their collecting branches
to make necessary arrangements to commence issuing of the computer generated receipts in lieu of
the tax payer’s counterfoil with immediate effect.
8. The relevant paragraphs of the EASIEST accounting procedure shall be deemed
amended as indicated above.
Yours faithfully,
Sd/(Deepika Jain)
Controller of Accounts
Encl: As above
Annexure
COMPUTERISED RECEIPT
Name of the Bank
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 payment 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
Note: - Serial No.8,9 & 10 are to be repeated for payments made under different heads.
16
No.Coord.II/6-9/EASeR/414
Office of the
Pr.Chief Controller of Accounts
Central Board of Excise & Customs
A.G.C.R Building, 1st Floor,
I.P.Estate, New Delhi 110 002.
***
Dated: 15-02- 2008.
To
Shri M.T.Varghese,
General Manager, Reserve Bank of India,
DGBA, Central Office, Opp.Mumbai Central Railway Station,
Byculla, Mumbai 400 008.
Subject: Cut off time for e-payment transactions pertaining to Government Revenue.
Sir,
In the meeting held in Mumbai with the representatives of the banks on 5th October, 2007, one of
the points for consideration was cut off time (end of day) to determine the date of payment by an
assessee in respect of e-Payment which has not been specifically defined. It has now been decided
with the approval of Controller General of Accounts, Ministry of Finance, Department of
Expenditure, that e-Payment received up to 8.00 PM may be treated as received on that day and
payment received after this limit may be treated as received on the next working day. The
permissible time period for deposit of tax receipts into Government Account in RBI, CAS, Nagpur,
delayed remittance thereof and levy of penal interest etc., would be reckoned with reference to the
above norm. Further, attention is invited to this office letter No.Coord.II/6- /HPC/255 dated 10-102007 regarding issue of cyber receipt as acknowledgement of e-Payment under EASIEST. In
addition to the fields such as CIN number, payment details, unique transaction number etc.
mentioned in the said letter, it must be ensured that the date and time of transactions is also clearly
indicated in the cyber receipt. These are required to be quoted to avoid any legal issues related to
credit to be given to the assessee in terms of the Central Excise Rules, 2002 as amended vide
notification date 01st March, 2003 whereby the date of presentation of cheque/Demand Draft is
treated as date of payment of tax, through the cheque/draft so tendered at the bank gets cleared on a
subsequent day.
You are, therefore, requested to issue necessary instructions in this regard to all
nominated banks.
Yours faithfully,
Sd/(Deepika Jain)
Controller of Accounts
Copy to:(1) The Directorate General of System & Data Management.
(2) All Commissioners, CBEC.
(3) All PAOs, CBEC.
(4) All General Managers of Nominated Banks (as per List)
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No.Coord.II/6-9/EASeR/615
Office of the
Pr.Chief Controller of Accounts
Central Board of Excise & Customs
AGCR Building, New Delhi 110 002.
***
Dated: 18th February, 2008.
To
Shri M.T.Varghese,
General Manager,
Reserve Bank of India,
DGBA, Central Office,
Opp.Mumbai Central Railway Station,
Byculla, Mumbai 400 008.
Sub:- Provision for ‘drop down menu’ in the e-payment software
of nominated banks.
Sir,
The Comptroller & Auditor General of India had pointed out in his Report for 2007,
instances of erroneous classification in respect of some large value Central Excise duties which
impacted he distribution of revenues between the Centre & States. Many of these errors had arisen
on account of the assesses filling incomplete information in the challans.
2. The Public Accounts Committee had recently reviewed the C&AG’s report in its
discussions with the officials of CBEC at Thiruvananthapuram and took a serious view
with regard to the errors having a financial implication. During the discussions, the
Public Accounts Committee was also apprised of the action taken by the Government in
making it mandatory for the Central Excise & Service Tax assesses to make e-payments where
their tax liability is in excess of Rs.50 lakhs. The Hon’ble Members of the Committee emphasized
that the Department must put in place strong systemic checks in place to ensure that such mistakes
do not take place in future.
3. As you are aware, in pursuance of various requirements and decisions taken in the
High Powered Committee on implementation of EASIEST etc., this office is in the
process of setting up of 2 e-PAOs for accountal of the e-payment transactions relating to Central
Excise and Service Tax. Pending implementation of the new accounting
procedure for e-payments (EASeR), the existing system of e-payments has been
reviewed in the context of the recommendations of the Hon’ble Public Accounts
Committee. It has now been decided that e-payment software for the banks nominated
must have the following features:(i) The assessee must be required to only key in his Assessee Code. The related
fields such as the name and address of the assessee, location code etc. must be pre-populated
by the system based on the information available with the bank’s CBS. In other words, the
assessee cannot make any entry manually with regard to the related fields.
(ii) The relevant fields relating to the various Account Head Codes for Central Excise and
Service Tax must compulsorily be in the form of a ‘drop down menu’ and again, there must be no
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provision for manual entry by the assessee with regard to the account heads or relevant account
head codes. The description of the head of account must be in full and not abbreviated or shortened
so that assessee has complete information to assist him in filling up the form.
(iii)
Apart from the Assessee Code, the only other manual entry permitted to be made by
the assessee must be the amount of tax to be paid on account of the various duties/services and
their components. The relevant fields relating to the total taxes paid must also be automatically
derived with referenced to the entries against the various account heads.
(iv) There must exist in the system, a facility of an option to the taxpayer to either
accept/modify/reject the various entries before finally authorizing the debit to his
relevant account.
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You would appreciate that with the setting up of the e-PAOs and implementation of
EASeR, there would be no scope at any stage of the lprocess for manual intervention
with regard to any of the records/fields there under. Errors in entry would lead to EASeR
automatically rejecting files from the nominated banks. Accordingly, the implementation
of the changes indicated above would be mandatory for a nominated bank to participate
in EASeR. The banks which do not implement the changes indicated above would be
required to follow the system of routing transactions through FPBs etc prescribed for
manual receipts.
5. You are kindly requested to issue necessary instructions in this regard to all the nominated banks,
IBA etc.
Yours faithfully,
Sd/(Deepika Jain)
Controller of Accounts..
Copy to:(1) The Directorate General of System & Data Management.
(2) All Commissioners, CBEC.
(3) All General Managers of Nominated Banks (as per List)
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4. FAQ on EASIEST (Electronic Accounting System in Excise and Service Tax)
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 assessee based on the PAN number or temporary number (if PAN is
not submitted) when the registration details are entered in the Central Server. The 15-character
assessee code will be available in the registration certificate issued to the assessee by the Assistant
Commissioner/Deputy Commissioner of the Division. Assessee code is same as Registration
Number, “ECC” code, and “STC”.
(2) What is Location Code? How does one get it? What are Commissionerate code,
Division code and Range Code?
Location Code is a six digit code, the first two of which represent the
Commissionerate,
the second two represent
the Division of that Commissionerate and the last two digits
represent the Range in the Division. It is very important to fill up the location code properly for
correct accounting of the taxes paid.
The location code can be obtained from the jurisdictional Range Officer or by using the facility
“Know Your Location” provided in the login page after clicking on the options "CENTRAL
EXCISE" or "SERVICE TAX" as the case may be in the website http://www.aces.gov.in
(3) If the PAN based registration number is not available in the Banker’s database,
What should be done? Who should be contacted?
The Banks are required to download the Master Directories of the Registered
Assessees from NSDL. NSDL is responsible for downloading the database from ACES at regular
intervals and making it available to banks. NSDL updates their database daily. The Banks should
update their directories from the
NSDL site, which will solve the problem. To verify the
availability of the Registration Number in CBEC database, option "Know status of Assessee" under
the caption "Highlights" can be invoked in the website http://www.aces.gov.in . 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?
Bank branches have been instructed not to accept payment if the 15 digit Registration
code is not there on the GAR 7 challan. Specific instructions have been issued to Banks not to
reject any challan based on non-availability of Registration details in their database and in such
cases they should follow the procedure as laid down by the RBI for all Agency Banks in their
Notification dated 15.01.2008 (RBI/2007-08/225 DGBA.GAD.No. H 7633 /41.07.006/2007-08).
(5) I don’t have a PAN based registration, but I want to make a payment towards my old
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arrears. Can I make the payment without having to get myself registered?
It is necessary to get a registered code number from the Central Excise/Service Tax
Department for making any payment. Kindly obtain a "Non-assessee" Registration through ACES
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 and is
not a registered assessee will also have to get a registration done through http://www.aces.gov.in.
The Reserve Bank had issued instruction no. RBI/2008-09/165 dated 05.09.2008 to the banks on
this. The banks will therefore insist on a valid registration number before they accept any payment
of Central Excise or Service Tax.
(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. The error 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( epayment).
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/ePAO.html. The local Range/Divisional Office or the Commissionerate
Technical Section 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 ER return?
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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?
In the CBEC website, a link is provided to know the accounting codes
http://cbec.gov.in/epay-idx.htm. If in case, for newly added services, the accounting code is not
found in the cbec website, the same can be seen in the following link https://cbeceasiest.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 Rs.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 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 the concerned PAO.
(12) What is the difference between 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 procedure
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
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c.
Challan Serial Number (5 digits) given bthe 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.
(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 GAR7 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 Indentification 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 1. Assessee can check the CIN – challan number using the nsdl website https://cbeceasiest.gov.in/EST/ (Challan Status Query – CIN based View). Also in the ACES website, a
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hyperlink is provided against “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 in the NSDL, 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 lodged with aces.servicedesk@icegate.gov.in
Qn 2 I have made e-payment / manual payment , but my challan details are not available in NSDL.
Ans 2 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 lodged with
aces.servicedesk@icegate.gov.in
Qn. 3 I have made the e-payment, but inadvertently a wrong assessee code was entered.
Ans. 3 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 epayment of Central Excise Duties / Service tax.
Qn. 4 I have made e-payment, but inadvertently quoted a wrong assessee code / service.
Ans 4 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 5 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 6 Availability of the assessee code in NSDL can be checked using the following link
https://cbec-easiest.gov.in/EST/AssesseeVerification.do
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Alternatively, using the aces website, the said link can be reached by using the option
“Know Status of Assesse” under “Highlights” Section.
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
aces.servicedesk@icegate.gov.in.
In
the
NSDL
website,
using
the
hyperlink
https://cbeceasiest.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 ?
Qn.
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Ans 7 In case of errors in the NSDL website, please contact the jurisdictional Range
Superintendent for necessary correction action. In case of unresolved – long pending issue, the
same may be reported ACES SERVICE DESK - aces.servicedesk@icegate.gov.in
Qn. 8 Can I download the format for GAR-7 Challan?
Ans. 8
Yes. The same can be viewed / downloaded using the following link
http://cbec.gov.in/epay-idx.htm. Alternative the same can be downloaded using the hyperlink
https://onlineservices.cbec-easiest.gov.in/csi/html/DownloadForm.html (Downloads section in the
EASIEST website)
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