Articles of Jewellery Exempted Under a New Notification - 1% remains?
THE Finance Minister's speech in Lok Sabha has been translated into notifications by the Government. Articles of jewellery, under heading 7113, are fully exempted from excise duty. But for some strange reason, the Board has got issued a new notification for this.
Articles of jewellery attract a 1% duty (without CENVAT Credit) as per Sl. No. 199 of Notification No. 12/2012 - CE dated 17.03.2012. They attract 6% duty as per Sl. No. 48 of Notification No. 2/2011 – CE dated 01.03.2011. And now by Notification No. 23/2012-CE, Articles of jewellery are totally exempted.
Which of these notifications is to be followed by the assesse and the officer?
On this issue, the FM had told Lok Sabha,
"In respect of Customs and Central Excise, a related proposal that has attracted public attention is the imposition of Central Excise duty on unbranded precious metal jewellery at the rate of one per cent. Mr. Chairman, Sir, I would like to reiterate that the levy was well intentioned and introduced not so much for raising revenue as for rationalisation and movement towards GST. However, the outpouring of sentiment both within and outside the House indicates that we are not ready for it. As such, the Government has decided to withdraw the levy on all precious metal jewellery, branded or unbranded, with effect from 17th March, 2012."
Though the FM announced in Parliament that the 1% duty imposed would be withdrawn with effect from 17th March 2012, there seems to be no notification from the Board for this. Maybe it would come in a day or two – with a backdate!
Rail Loco for Government Exempted: Along with jewellery, Parts of railway locomotives or rolling stock manufactured by a factory belonging to the Central Government or intended for use by any department of the Central Government, are also exempted.
Notification No. Dated: May 08 2012