DGFT will authorise PAN no. to be the IEC no., for applicants from July 1

The Dollar Business Bureau

The Customs makes changes in IEC that would come into effect with the introduction of the Goods and Services Tax scheduled to be implemented from July 1.

According to the latest Customs notification no- 09/2018 dated 12th June, 2017, GSTIN would be used for purposes of

(i)  credit flow of IGST on import of goods, and

(ii)  refund or rebate of IGST related to export of goods.

As GSTIN will be used for the purposes mentioned above, it is important as an identifier at the transaction level. In view of this, it has been decided that importer/exporter would need to declare only GSTIN (wherever registered with GSTN) at the time of import and export of goods. The PAN level aggregation of data would automatically happen in the system.

The Customs also takes note that GSTIN cannot become universal as it is not compulsory for all importers/exporters below a threshold limit of turnover.

All exporters/importers may not register with GSTIN or in cases where either credit is claimed of IGSTI.

The DGFT also recognizes only the corporate entity (single identity) and not individual transactions.

As a measure of ease of doing business, it has been decided to keep the identity of an entity uniform across the Ministries/Departments. Henceforth (with the implementation of GST), PAN of an entity will be used for the purpose of IEC, that is IEC will be issued by DGFT with the difference that it will be alpha numeric (instead of 10 digit numeric at present) and will be same as PAN of an entity.

For new applicants under the notified date, application for IEC will be made to DGFT and the applicant’s PAN will be authorized as IEC. For residuary categories the IEC will be either UIN issued by GSTN and authorized by DGFT or any common number to be notified by DGFT.

Further, for the existing IEC holders, necessary changes in the system are being carried out by DGFT so that their PAN becomes their IEC. DGFT system will undertake this migration and the existing IEC holders are not required to undertake any additional exercise in this regard. IEC holders are required to quote their PAN (in place of existing IEC) in all their future documentation, w.e.f. the notified date. The legacy data which is based on IEC would be converted into PAN based in due course of time.