slashragnarok
In the zone
Form 50 is a way bill for importing items into West Bengal. Recently I bought NZXT Tempest Evo cabinet from Itwares, Mumbai and I was required to send them this way bill as the courier company they ship through do not ship large packages to West Bengal without this.
Firstly I required the invoice or bill for the item from the dealer(ITwares). Make sure the way bill contains your address (Kolkata, West bengal is sufficient), the dealer's name and address, name, quantity and price of item inclusive of all taxes and shipping cost.
Then I went to the dreaded Directorate of Commercial Taxes at Beleghata, Kolkata.There are regional offices for each region in West Bengal and the job may get done there but there is a risk of being referred to the Head Office. Also the top officials have their offices at the Head Office so better go there and save yourselves a ton of harassment.
Now my father is a trader and he knows the Sales Tax department inside out. I was accompanied to the office by one of his employees who knows a fair bit of the place. However we did not have to use any of his contacts there.
We went to the Joint Commissioner's office situated on the 6th floor and asked him the procedure. he was a nice man and told us to get a form 56, fill it in, attach with it a copy of the invoice, a copy of Photo ID and go to the 7th floor to the top official there (Senior Commissioner I think, not sure).
We did that and went to the Boro Babu. He was an equally pleasant man to deal with and he asked us what we wanted to import etc. An important thing to note here is that I specifically told him that the PC was for educational purposes. So I was required to show them some proof of my "studenthood". Luckily I had my College ID card with me. So along with the items mentioned before I also attached a copy of my College ID along with a declaration stating that the item to be imported was for personal, non commercial use only.
Then the Senior Commissioner signed my FORM 56 and scribbled some notes all over my invoice copy, declaration of Student status and the form. Then we made our way to the Unregistered Way Bill office. This is where individuals like us who are not registered traders get their Form 50s. Oh and by the way this is where I initially got the Form 56. I was made to sit at a bench while I submitted the Form. The people there were not too happy with the fact that I had not traversed the gauntlet of harassment and had got my form signed directly by a top official.
Then the actual Form 50 arrived. It is like a page from a fee book if you know what I mean. There was a white first part and two exact colorful copies with it. All the 3 parts had to be filled in with the same things. On the part where one had to write their VAT no etc was stamped across with a big "UNREGISTERED" sign. The colorful parts look much like judicial stamp papers. I filled this in, submitted it and sat down again while a man took it away to get signed by someone.
When it finally came back it had transparent stickers on the parts where I had written commodity name, quantity, price etc. obviously so they couldn't be changed. The man took note of everything in a register and then flashed an obliging smile at us. My dad's employee loudly suggested we pay him rs 50 but the man quickly took us to one side and in a hush hush tone told us to settle it at Rs 100. I gave it to him and mind you this is the least you can expect to pay. If you approach the wrong persons expect having to pay Rs 300+.
Tomorrow I will courier the form to the ITwares and get my cabby.
This is a rough draft by the way and I shall be editing this post as and when my detail memory serves me.
Firstly I required the invoice or bill for the item from the dealer(ITwares). Make sure the way bill contains your address (Kolkata, West bengal is sufficient), the dealer's name and address, name, quantity and price of item inclusive of all taxes and shipping cost.
Then I went to the dreaded Directorate of Commercial Taxes at Beleghata, Kolkata.There are regional offices for each region in West Bengal and the job may get done there but there is a risk of being referred to the Head Office. Also the top officials have their offices at the Head Office so better go there and save yourselves a ton of harassment.
Now my father is a trader and he knows the Sales Tax department inside out. I was accompanied to the office by one of his employees who knows a fair bit of the place. However we did not have to use any of his contacts there.
We went to the Joint Commissioner's office situated on the 6th floor and asked him the procedure. he was a nice man and told us to get a form 56, fill it in, attach with it a copy of the invoice, a copy of Photo ID and go to the 7th floor to the top official there (Senior Commissioner I think, not sure).
We did that and went to the Boro Babu. He was an equally pleasant man to deal with and he asked us what we wanted to import etc. An important thing to note here is that I specifically told him that the PC was for educational purposes. So I was required to show them some proof of my "studenthood". Luckily I had my College ID card with me. So along with the items mentioned before I also attached a copy of my College ID along with a declaration stating that the item to be imported was for personal, non commercial use only.
Then the Senior Commissioner signed my FORM 56 and scribbled some notes all over my invoice copy, declaration of Student status and the form. Then we made our way to the Unregistered Way Bill office. This is where individuals like us who are not registered traders get their Form 50s. Oh and by the way this is where I initially got the Form 56. I was made to sit at a bench while I submitted the Form. The people there were not too happy with the fact that I had not traversed the gauntlet of harassment and had got my form signed directly by a top official.
Then the actual Form 50 arrived. It is like a page from a fee book if you know what I mean. There was a white first part and two exact colorful copies with it. All the 3 parts had to be filled in with the same things. On the part where one had to write their VAT no etc was stamped across with a big "UNREGISTERED" sign. The colorful parts look much like judicial stamp papers. I filled this in, submitted it and sat down again while a man took it away to get signed by someone.
When it finally came back it had transparent stickers on the parts where I had written commodity name, quantity, price etc. obviously so they couldn't be changed. The man took note of everything in a register and then flashed an obliging smile at us. My dad's employee loudly suggested we pay him rs 50 but the man quickly took us to one side and in a hush hush tone told us to settle it at Rs 100. I gave it to him and mind you this is the least you can expect to pay. If you approach the wrong persons expect having to pay Rs 300+.
Tomorrow I will courier the form to the ITwares and get my cabby.
This is a rough draft by the way and I shall be editing this post as and when my detail memory serves me.
