Self Assessment [Rule 6] :
(a) Meaning of self-assessment: The assessee himself is required to determine duty liability at the time of removal of excisable goods and discharge the same. In other words,
- assessee should apply correct classification and value on the quantities being removed by him, and
- indicate the same on the invoice.
(b) Exception- Assessee manufacturing cigarettes: In the case of an assessee manufacturing cigarettes, the Superintendent or Inspector of Central Excise has to assess the duty payable before removal by the assessee.
(c) Main ingredients of assessment
(i) Ascertainment of date and time of intended removal;
(ii) Ascertainment of classification and rate of duty (dealt in Chapter 2) at the point of removal;
(iii) Valuation of goods (dealt in Chapter 3) at the point of removal;
(iv) Quantity intended to be removed;
(v) Indication of the duty so assessed on the invoice;
(vi) Assessment of the return for a month;
(vii) Submission of return to the Range Office having jurisdiction over the factory within ten days of the succeeding month (quarterly return in case of SSI);
(viii) Submission of ‘CENVAT Return‘ for a month within 10 days of the succeeding month .
(d) Scrutiny of assessment
(i) Responsibility of Departmental officers to scrutinize the assessment: In view of the self-assessment procedure wherein the assessee himself assesses the duty liability, the responsibility of the Departmental officers [Central Excise Officers having jurisdiction over the factory/premises of the assessee] is to scrutinize the assessment made for verification of its correctness.
(ii) Documents required by officer: For this purpose, the said officer(s) may require the relevant documents. Though the statutory records have been dispensed with, the assessee is required to maintain private records containing all requisite information as required by different rules and also provide a list of all records maintained by him to the Range Office.
The Officer responsible for scrutiny of return may require:-
- Invoices issued by the assessee
- Daily Stock Account
- CENVAT Account
- Cash ledgers
- Ledger of all receipts and payments
- Source documents etc.
(iii) Compulsory for assessee to furnish the documents: It shall be compulsory for the assessee to provide the necessary records upon receiving the `Requisition Letter‘ from the Range Officer or other superior officers. He shall hand over the records under proper acknowledgement and receive them back under proper acknowledgement. The officer scrutinizing return may require presence of the assessee or his authorised person at mutually convenient time, for seeking certain information relating to the records.
(iv) Scrutiny of assessment : The Superintendent of Central Excise in charge of the Range Office, with assistance of the Inspectors in-charge of the factory of an assessee, will scrutinise all the returns. They shall, in selected cases, call for all connecting documents including invoices and the records and scrutinise the correctness of assessment.
| S.No. | Central Excise Officer who will scrutinise the return | Amount of duty paid by the unit through PLA per annum every six months |
| 1 | Deputy/Assistant Commissioner of Central Excise | More than ` 1 crore, but less than ` 5 crores |
| 2 | Additional/Joint Commissioner of Central Excise | ` 5 crores or more |