Customs Announces Procedure for Refund of Double payment of Baggage Duty at
ICEGATE
·
Obtaining a refund for failed
transactions has been a challenging experience for many travellers.
· Submit a formal refund request along with required documentation. The department will then verify the details and process the refund, crediting the amount back to the passenger's account
[ABS
News Service/21.01.2025]
The Customs department has issued an advisory
to assist passengers in obtaining timely refunds for failed Customs duty payment
transactions. These guidelines specifically address the refund process for payments
made through the ICEGATE portal.
It is important to note that the advisory
applies exclusively to international travellers who have brought goods from abroad
exceeding the duty-free baggage limit for those items.
What was the issue?
From April 2023, online Customs duty payments
will be made through the ICEGATE portal. A common issue arises when using the ICEGATE
portal to pay Customs duty, as payment failures can occur in some cases. When a
payment fails, you are required to make another attempt, leading to a double debit
scenario — one successful transaction and one failed — for a single Customs duty
payment. It is crucial to complete the payment successfully, as failing to do so
may result in the seizure of goods exceeding the baggage allowance.
However, obtaining
a refund for failed transactions has been a challenging experience for many travellers.
To address this concern, a new advisory has been issued, outlining a clear process
for claiming refunds.
“The advisory instructs passengers to verify
their payment status on the portal, collect necessary transaction details, and submit a formal refund request along with required documentation.
The department will then verify the details and process the refund, crediting the
amount back to the passenger's account.
Manmeet Kaur, partner at Karanjawala & Co., explains what the Customs Department
says about failed payments on the ICEGATE portal.
In terms of an advisory dated 25.12.2024,
the concerned passport holder who is facing an issue of failed baggage duty which
is lying in the PAN wallet of ICEGATE may directly approach the port officer seeking
a refund.
The concerned port officer, after conducting
a preliminary verification and cross verifying the relevant documents such as baggage
declaration form, passport details, challan no., transaction / payment history in
the ICES system, shall send a letter on the available address to the passport holder
requesting him / her for supporting documents, if so required.
Upon successfully verifying the claim made
by the passport holder, the port officer shall process the refund request to the
bank account of the passport holder. Once the refund is processed, the officer shall
inform ICEGATE, which shall update the PAN-based wallet for corresponding transactions.