Deposit slip to be mandatory for import

KATHMANDU,DEC 8: 

Department of Customs is preparing to introduce the provision of compulsory submission of bank deposit slip in custom to import goods.

The department believes that new provision will end under-invoiced import of goods, said acting director general at the department Laxman Aryal, appearing before the Economic and Labour Relation Committee under Legislature Parliament. Currently, importers are only submitting customs declaration forms at the customs points.

Similarly, the department is carrying out necessary preparation to adopt web-based entry system to regularise custom administration, he informed. 

Customs points are major sources of revenue leakages in the country, lawmaker Gagan Thapa claimed. “Practice of syndicate and cartel at the customs points is blocking genuine business firms to enter into the business,” he accused. 

“Outlets and entrepreneurs in different parts of country are importing under-invoiced goods by practising cartel with bogus importers,” he informed. “All the financial crime scams including fake Value Added Tax (VAT) bill, Indian Currency misappropriation, Hundi and other revenue leakage cases are directly linked with the trend of importing under-invoiced goods,” acting finance secretary Rajan Khanal said. 

Likewise, Department of Customs is all set to implement the provision of Post Clearance Audit to curb revenue leakages, acting director general Aryal said, adding that effective implementation of Post Clearance Audit will help to scrutinise all consignments and supporting documents.

Post-clearance audit is a method of controlling economic operators through examination of their accounts and records.

Problem in monitoring

Inland Revenue Department is facing problem to monitor Permanent Account Number (PAN) registered business firms, according to it. There are more than 600,000 PAN registered business firms and the department cannot monitor all of them, director general Tanka Mani Sharma said, he said.

Source: THT