The following category of persons are required to register with jurisdictional Central Excise Officer in the Range office by applying for registration.
Every manufacturer of excise goods (including Central/State Government undertakings or undertakings owned or controlled by autonomous corporations) on which excise duty is chargeable.
Persons who desire to issue CENVATable invoices under the provisions of the CENVAT Credit Rules, 2001.
Persons holding private warehouses.
Persons who obtain excise goods for availing end-use based exemption.
Exporters who are:
Manufacturing or processing export goods using duty paid inputs with the intent to claim rebate on such duty paid
Using inputs received without paying duty and exporting the finished goods
On receipt of application for registration, the department issues a registration number to the applicant. The jurisdictional Excise Officer then carries out the post facto verification. On fulfillment of all the requirements, the registration certificate will be issued within 7 days from the date of application.
Separate Registration is required for each premise except where two or more premises are part of the same factory, but segregated by public road, canal or railway line. Commissioner of Central Excise will decide if both the premises are part of the same factory based on the following factors:
Interlinked process - product manufactured/ produced in one premise are substantially used in other premises for manufacture of final products
Large number of raw materials received or proposed to be received is common for both or all the premises
Common electricity supplies
Common labour or work force
Common administration or works management
Common sales tax registration and assessment
Common Income Tax assessment
Any other factor as may be indicative of inter-linkage of the manufacturing processes
Separate Registration is required for each depot, godown and so on in respect of persons issuing CENVAT invoices. However, in the case liquid and gaseous products, availability of godown should not be insisted upon.
Registration Certificate may be granted to minors provided they have legal/ natural guardians or guardians appointed by the Court, to conduct business on their behalf.
The ECC number is a registration number, issued to all the Central Excise Assessees. This number is based on the principles of 'Common Business Identifier' which will be used for revenue accounting, validation of documents (for example CENVAT invoices), inter-agency coordination and creation of data warehouse.
ECC number is a PAN based 15 digit alpha numeric number. The structure of ECC Number is as given below:
First part denotes 10 character (alpha numeric) Permanent Account Number
Second part comprises of a fixed two character alpha code which is tabulated below.
Category |
Code |
Central Excise Manufacturer (Including registered warehouses) |
XM or EM |
Registered Dealer |
XD or ED |
Third part is a three character numeric code - 001, 002, 003 and so on.
If a manufacturer, registered with the Central Excise Department, has only one factory/dealer's premise/ warehouse, the last three characters will be 001. If there are more than one factories/warehouses/ dealer's premises falling under a common PAN, the last three character of the new ECC would be 001, 002, 003 and so on.
The ECC Number has to be quoted on the GAR–7 Challans covering deposit of Central Excise duties, Additional duties, Cess and other dues to the Government.
If the assessee has only one factory:
Structure of ECC Number will be - PAN + EM + 001
If PAN is ABCDE1234H, the ECC Number will be - ABCDE1234H EM 001
If the assessee has more than one factory, the ECC Number with the aforementioned PAN will be:
ABCDE1234H EM 001
ABCDE1234H EM 002
ABCDE1234H EM 003
If the assessee has one factory and is also registered as a dealer, having PAN as aforesaid, then the New ECC Number will be:
ABCDE1234H EM 001 (for Factory)
ABCDE1234H ED 001 (for Dealer)
Clearance of excise goods should be on an invoice.
Rule 11 of the Central Excise Rules, 2001 provides that no excisable goods shall be removed from a factory or a warehouse except under an invoice signed by the owner of the factory or his authorised agent.
In case of cigarettes, which is under physical control, the Factory Officers are posted by rotation in the factory (if the factory operation is 24 hours, the officers are posted 24 hours), will check the operations as per the instructions contained in commodity manual for cigarettes. Accordingly, in the case of cigarettes, each invoice shall also be countersigned by the Inspector of Central Excise or the Superintendent of Central Excise before the cigarettes are removed from the factory.
The invoice must be serially numbered and display the registration number, description, classification, time and date of removal, rate of duty, quantity and value, of goods and the duty payable thereon. The serial number starts from 1st of April every year.
The serial number can be entered at the time of printing. If the invoice book is authenticated in the manner specified in sub-rule (5) of rule 11, each leaf should contain serial number. Hand written serial number is not accepted.
In case of computer-generated invoice, the serial number may be allowed to be generated and printed while invoicing only if,
The software automatically generates the number and
The same number cannot be generated more than once
For this purpose, the Central Excise Officers may check the system/software from time to time.
The invoice must be prepared in triplicate.
The original copy marked as Original For Buyer
The duplicate copy marked as Duplicate For Transporter
The triplicate copy marked as Triplicate For Assessee
The above requirement is mainly for Central Excise purposes. However, the assessee may make more than three copies if required. The additional copies should be prominently marked as 'Not for Cenvat Purposes'.
The rule 11 of the Central Excise Rules, 2001 provides that, only one invoice book is allowed to be in use at a time
If assessee requires two different invoice books to record removals for home-consumption and removals for export, they can do so by intimating the jurisdictional Deputy/Assistant Commissioner of Central Excise.
If an assessee is allowed to keep more than one invoice book, different numerical serial numbers must be maintained for each set.
For running stationary used in computers, the bound book will not be insisted upon if the stationary is pre-printed with distinctive names and marks of the assessee. After the invoices are prepared, the triplicate copy will be retained in bound-book form.
The rule provides that each foil of the invoice book must be authenticated before using it. Any person duly authorised in this regard by the Company, owner or working partner can also authenticate the invoices. Copy of the letter of authority should be submitted to the Range office.
Before using the invoice book, the serial numbers of the same should be intimated to the Superintendent of Central Excise having jurisdiction over the factory of the assessee. This can be done in writing, by post/e-mail/fax/hand delivery and so on.
The amount of duty shown in invoices issued under rule 11 of the Central Excise Rules, 2001 can be rounded off to the nearest rupee as provided under Section 37D of the Central Excise Act, 1944. The rounded off duty amount should be indicated in words and figures.
A Supplementary Invoice is an invoice issued in addition to the original invoice. It can be issued only by a manufacturer or importer of inputs or capital goods if additional amount of excise duty has been paid.