New Delhi: Now a person flying from abroad can be arrested by customs for outright smuggling or mis-declaration of baggage at airports only if the value of goods is over Rs 20 lakh against the earlier threshold of Rs 5 lakh.
As per current rules, a person can pay a fine for any undeclared or mis-declared baggage of a value up to Rs 5 lakh. If the value of baggage is beyond this limit, it attracts prosecution or arrest. The Centre has now raised this limit to Rs 20 lakh.
However, there will be no lower limit for arrest and prosecution in the cases of smuggling of fake Indian currency notes, arms, ammunitions and explosives and endangered species.
The monetary limits for arrest and prosecution have been revised substantially upwards by the Centre on Friday to ensure that these powers are not used against small and medium businesses.
The limits, in case of offence of evasion of tax or wrongful utilisation of input tax credit in case of central excise and service tax, have been revised to Rs 1 crore from Rs 25 lakh and Rs 10 lakh respectively. In case of evasion of tax under the customs act, the limit has been revised to Rs1 crore from `10 lakh in case of evasion of tax by wrongful availment of exemption or duty drawback.
24/10/15 Asian Age
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As per current rules, a person can pay a fine for any undeclared or mis-declared baggage of a value up to Rs 5 lakh. If the value of baggage is beyond this limit, it attracts prosecution or arrest. The Centre has now raised this limit to Rs 20 lakh.
However, there will be no lower limit for arrest and prosecution in the cases of smuggling of fake Indian currency notes, arms, ammunitions and explosives and endangered species.
The monetary limits for arrest and prosecution have been revised substantially upwards by the Centre on Friday to ensure that these powers are not used against small and medium businesses.
The limits, in case of offence of evasion of tax or wrongful utilisation of input tax credit in case of central excise and service tax, have been revised to Rs 1 crore from Rs 25 lakh and Rs 10 lakh respectively. In case of evasion of tax under the customs act, the limit has been revised to Rs1 crore from `10 lakh in case of evasion of tax by wrongful availment of exemption or duty drawback.
24/10/15 Asian Age
