Registration with CBEC must for availing subsidy

Ambika Sharma

Tribune News Service

Solan, December 12

In a bid to facilitate the industrial units eligible for availing central excise subsidy under the 2003 industrial policy, a one-time registration with the Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) has been made mandatory.

As per a notification issued by the CBEC recently, such units will have to file an application for seeking budgetary support on a quarterly basis.

The Department of Industrial Promotion and Policy (DIPP) had earlier rolled out a scheme for such units as the area wise exemption scheme had been annulled after introduction of the Goods and Service Tax (GST) from July this year.

According to the notification since the dues for the last quarter beginning July have already become due, the eligible units have been directed by the CBEC to seek registration at the earliest.

Barely 30 per cent industrial units had come forward to seek registration prior to this notification.

The Central excise exemption had lapsed in March 2010 and units which invested in the fag-end of the period were eligible for this benefit till March 2020.

The Central government was reimbursing 58 per cent of the Central tax while the state government was supposed to pool in the remaining share.

Sanjay Khurana, former Chairman, Confederation of Indian Industry’s Himachal chapter, while terming it as a facilitate step said the units were finding it difficult to get themselves registered as officials were awaiting this notification.

As against the direct exemption in Central excise which was available under the 2003 Central industrial policy, the investors would now be reimbursed their dues. The application will be processed by the Deputy/Assistant Commissioner of the Central Tax and it will be credited into the bank account of the industrial unit.

It has, however, been made mandatory that a unit has filed his return and paid the due tax before filing his application for seeking reimbursement of the tax benefit.

Inspection of the unit by a team of DIPP officials has also been laid down in this scheme and its findings would be communicated to the Central Tax officials before budgetary support is provided to a unit’s claim. Cases where such inspections can’t take place immediately would be provides a provisional budget for six months.

This will ensure that the bogus claims are not filed as cases of ghost industrial units, including a key MNC, involving tax benefit worth crores had come to light in the Baddi industrial area in the recent past.

The board has also directed the industrial units to convey if any difficulty was being faced by them in seeking registration or filing application for claim.

Officials of the CBEC hoped that more industrial units would come forward to seek registration as barely 33 per cent of the eligible 1050 units had come forward across the state till recently.