Couriers should not pose hassles to individual importers, says CBIC

New Delhi: The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs has asked senior field officers to ensure that authorized courier agencies do not ask for too many documents from individual importers beyond what is legally mandated for ID checks, especially while importing small-value items. To ease compliance for individuals importing documents, gifts, samples or low-value dutiable consignments of upto ₹50,000 including insurance and freight, the Board has clarified that in cases where the delivery address differs from the proof of identity provided for KYC, recording the delivery address at the time of delivery by the courier companies would suffice as proof of address. “Many courier companies were imposing unnecessary documentation requirements beyond the prescribed norms, leading to avoidable delays and challenges for individual importers,” said Amit Maheshwari, tax partner at AKM Global, a tax and consulting firm. The primary concern has been the mismatch between delivery addresses and official identity documents, which previously required individuals to furnish additional address proof, often leading to logistical bottlenecks,” explained Mohan. The decision to allow courier companies to record the delivery address at the time of delivery instead of demanding extra address proof is a pragmatic solution that balances compliance with efficiency, said Mohan.