Special Valuation Branch - SVB
The ‘Special Valuation Branch‘ (hereinafter referred to as “SVB”) was created as an institution specializing in investigation of transactions involving special relationships between buyer – seller or those involving other special circumstances surrounding the sale of imported goods, both of which have a bearing on the assessable value.
The Special Valuation Branches function under the supervisory control of the jurisdictional Chief Commissioner/Principal Commissioner/Commissioner.
The SVBs are presently functioning at the Customs Houses at Bengaluru, Chennai, Kolkata, Delhi and Mumbai.
Who are the related parties?
- Having common officer or director
- Legally recognized partners in business
- Having employer-employee relationship
- One company directly or indirectly owns, controls or hold 5% or more of the other.
- One of them directly or indirectly controls the others
- Both of them are directly or indirectly controlled by a third person
- Together they directly or indirectly control a third person
- Member of the same family
PROCEEDINGS IN SPECIAL VALUATION
Upon receipt of all related records from the referring customs formation, the SVB shall forthwith assign a case number and update the Central Registry Database (CRD) maintained by DGoV. The SVB shall also inform the RMD of the details of the importer, his IEC code, and details of seller for inserting suitable instructions for assessing officers at all Customs Houses so as to ensure provisional assessments during the currency of SVB inquiries.
Upon receipt of information from the importer as per Annexure B, SVB shall commence inquiries, during the course of which the Deputy Commissioner / Asst. Commissioner (SVB) may call for further documents or information as required. The importer shall also be given suitable opportunity to submit evidence in support of the declared value.
The SVBs shall, as far as possible , complete the investigations and issue its findings within two months from the date of receipt of information in Annexure B. In cases where investigations are not completed within 2 months, the SVB shall seek the approval of the jurisdictional Commissioner for such extended time period as is deemed necessary to complete investigations. However, where investigations are not completed within 4 months from the date of receipt of information in Annexure B, the matter shall be submitted before the Chief Commissioner for extension of period as is deemed fit.
Upon completing investigations, the SVB shall submit the findings before the Principal Commissioner/Commissioner, quantifying the extent of influence on the transaction value due to the relationship or payments towards royalty or licence fee or other payments actually made or to be made as a condition of sale of the imported goods.
Upon approval by the Principal Commissioner / Commissioner, an Investigation Report (IR, for short) shall be prepared incorporating all relevant facts, submissions made by the importer, investigative findings, grounds for acceptance or rejection of transaction value, and the extent of influence on declared transaction value, if any. The IR shall include all relied upon documents and shall be communicated to the referring customs station/appraising group and such other stations where imports have been provisionally assessed. A copy of the IR shall also be sent to the DGoV.
Finalization of assessments
Upon receipt of the IR from the SVB, where investigative findings are that the declared value is found conforming to Rule 3 of the CVR, 2007, the customs stations where provisional assessments have been undertaken shall immediately proceed to finalize the same. There would be no need to issue a speaking order for finalising the provisional assessments in such cases.
However, when investigative findings are that the declared value has been influenced by the circumstances surrounding the sale, the proper officer shall issue a show cause notice to the importer within 15 days of the receipt of the IR, under intimation to the concerned SVB.