Four practices, and the work that runs through all of them.
The list below is the scope. What we are actually doing in every one of them is the same thing: getting a position recorded correctly, early, with the documents behind it.
Customs and international trade
Classification, valuation, origin, and everything that follows when a consignment is questioned at the port.
- Classification and tariff disputes
- Valuation, including related party imports
- Provisional assessment and finalisation
- Seizure, detention and provisional release
- Appeals to the Commissioner and the Tribunal
GST advisory and disputes
Scrutiny, audit, credit denials and demands, from the first reconciliation through to the appellate stage.
- Scrutiny in ASMT-10 and departmental audit
- Input tax credit denials and mismatches
- Refunds on exports and inverted duty
- Demands under Sections 73, 74 and 74A
- Appeals and pre-deposit planning
SEZ and export oriented units
Approvals, performance obligations, clearances into the domestic market, and exit.
- Letters of approval and unit approvals
- Net foreign exchange and annual reporting
- Clearances into the domestic tariff area
- Exit, de-bonding and duty on removal
- Proceedings before the Development Commissioner
DGFT and foreign trade policy
Authorisations, export obligation, remission schemes, and the proceedings that follow a shortfall.
- Advance Authorisation and EPCG
- Export obligation, extension and redemption
- Remission schemes and duty drawback
- Importer exporter code and status holder
- Adjudication and appeal under the Foreign Trade Act
What an engagement actually consists of.
We are a consultancy. We advise, we analyse, we prepare submissions, and we assist in presenting and appealing a matter. We do not hold ourselves out as advocates or as chartered accountants, and we do not offer services reserved to either.
Advisory before the fact
A view taken in advance on classification, valuation, eligibility, or the structure of a transaction, written down so that it can be produced later. Most of the value in this practice is here.
Health checks and readiness
A read across returns, bills of entry, authorisations and reconciliations to find the exposures before somebody else does. Usually run before an audit, a transaction, or a new line of business.
Replies and representation support
Preparation of replies to queries, scrutiny notices, audit observations and show cause notices, with the documents assembled, and assistance in presenting the case before the authority.
Appellate work
Preparation and filing of appeals, grounds, and the pre-deposit computation, and assistance through the appellate stages up to the Tribunal.
Refunds and remission
Claims for refund of duty and tax, remission and drawback, and the follow through when a claim is deficient or held up.
Registrations and authorisations
Registrations, licences, letters of approval, authorisations and their amendment, redemption and closure.
Asked on most first calls.
Do you take on a matter that is already at the appellate stage?
Yes. It is not the stage we prefer, and we will say so, but an appeal that is already filed still turns on the record, the grounds and the pre-deposit, and all three can usually be improved.
Can you work alongside our chartered accountant or counsel?
That is the normal arrangement. On a matter that goes to the High Court or beyond, counsel appears and we prepare. On compliance, your accountant files and we take the position that the filing rests on.
Do you handle the filing on the portal?
We prepare and we support the filing. Which credentials are used, and by whom, is decided at the start of the engagement and written into it, because on these portals that question matters later.
What does the first conversation cover?
What arrived, when it arrived, under which law, and what the underlying transaction actually was. If the matter does not need us, that is usually clear inside the hour and we will tell you.
Are fees published?
No. They are quoted for the matter once we have seen the papers, because the range on an identical looking notice is wide. Nothing is billed before the scope is agreed in writing.
Bring it to us while it is still a question.
A first conversation costs you nothing but the hour, and it is where we tell you honestly whether the matter needs us at all.