E-payment at customs from 1 July to curb hassle, bribes

Customs stations across the country are getting an e-payment system operational from 1 July – the first day of FY 2021-22, allowing importers to pay their duties from anywhere through the Internet by utilising unique user IDs and the Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) gateway. 

Chattogram Custom House launched e-payment on a small scale back in 2018. Now, it will adopt this system as a major method of receiving payments.

People using the country's largest and busiest customs station used to stand in long queues in front of banks for many hours to pay their customs duty, which in turn caused significant distress and delays. 

The e-payment system is freeing the importers from such hassle, while making it very difficult for culprits to engage in a number of illicit activities, especially fraud and duty evasion.

It will also help prevent customs and bank officials from asking for bribes against import documents, and stop C&F (clearing and forwarding) agents from overcharging importers by providing false customs duty information, insiders told The Business Standard.

According to the National Board of Revenue (NBR), in the first six months, e-payment will be mandatory for any importer who has to pay more than Tk2 lakh as customs duty against the bill of entry.

It will become mandatory for all importers from January of 2022.

Chattogram Custom House Commissioner Mohammad Fakhrul Alam said, "The e-payment system will cut down the opportunities for culprits to commit irregularities. For example, sometimes a C&F agent provides false information to importers about their payable duty. But now the importers will have accurate information about the amount of duty payable against their imported goods."

Meanwhile, Chattogram Custom House Deputy Commission (Prevention) Sultan Mahmud said, The customs house had organised a number of training sessions on the e-payment system. Importers, C&F agents, shipping agents, representatives from the Freight Forwarders Association, and business leaders engaged in the import-export sector had attended these sessions.

He added that many had no interest in visiting the Sonali Bank's customs house branch on Fridays and Saturdays, but the e-payment system would allow them to pay duties any day of the week. "The move will also save importers a lot of time."

According to Chattogram Custom House data, it receives an average of 7,000 bills of entry each day. Around 2,000 are for imported goods and 5,000 for exports. The station collects a daily revenue of Tk120 to Tk140 crore.

Lauding the initiative, Chittagong Chamber of Commerce and Industry President Mahbubul Alam said, "The e-payment system is very important for the business community. They used to spend a lot of time paying customs duty, but the problem no longer exists."

How will the system work?

Under the new system, a C&F agent will submit a bill of entry to the customs station on behalf of an importer after the arrival of foreign goods. The customs sections will then define the amount of duty applicable on that shipment and payable by the importer.

Using e-payment, the importer will be able to pay duty from any bank across the country. The Bangladesh Bank's RTGS system will act as a gateway between the Sonali Bank's customs station branch, and the branches of all scheduled banks, Chattogram Custom House said.

The Sonali Bank is the only gateway in this system. Through Asycuda software used by the NBR), an importer will be able to use his/her unique user ID to pay customs duty in just two minutes. 

Every user will have to provide six types of information to use the e-payment system – bill of entry number, fiscal year, customs house office code, amount of payable duty, AIN (Agent Identification Number) number and phone number.

A confirmation SMS will be delivered to an importer's phone after a successful payment. Asycuda will update the customs duty payment information on the network automatically.

Speaking to The Business Standard, a number of importers and C&F agents said the e-payment system will reduce the hassle caused by customs officials. They claimed that some of these officials used to ask for bribes against bills of entry by raising undue complications.

On the matter, Chattogram C&F Agents Association's Law Secretary Joynul Abedin said, "The e-payment system will help us implement the paperless concept. Delays in the customs duty payment process used to complicate the unloading of goods in the Chattogram port.

"Importers and related organisations used to suffer a lot of losses due to this issue. The e-payment system will help us get rid of the crisis."

After e-payment was launched in Chattogram Customs House in February of 2018, only 163 organisations paid their customs duty using this system in the following two years.