The bill of entry, field by field, and the filing deadline

A bill of entry looks like a form and behaves like a legal assertion. Section 46(1) of the Customs Act 1962 requires the importer of any goods, other than goods intended for transit or transhipment, to make entry by presenting electronically on the customs automated system a bill of entry for home consumption or for warehousing. Section 46(4) requires a subscribed declaration as to the truth of its contents. Section 46(4A) puts accuracy, authenticity of the supporting documents, and compliance with any restriction or prohibition, on the importer directly. The broker types it. The importer owns it.

Which type of bill of entry applies to your consignment?

Section 46(1) of the Customs Act names two at the point of import: a bill of entry for home consumption, where duty is paid and the goods leave the customs area, and a bill of entry for warehousing, where dutiable goods are deposited and duty is deferred. The third is the ex-bond bill of entry, presented later under Section 68 of the Customs Act, which governs the clearance of warehoused goods for home consumption. Choosing between them is a working capital decision before it is a documentation decision.

The choice is not irreversible, but it is supervised. Section 46(5) provides that where the proper officer is satisfied that the interests of revenue are not prejudicially affected and that there was no fraudulent intention, he may permit substitution of a bill of entry for home consumption for a bill of entry for warehousing, or the reverse. That is a permission, not an edit, and it sits alongside the ordinary amendment route. Half of India's bills of entry get amended takes apart what the amendment route costs.

Is the deadline the day before arrival or the day after?

It depends on the date of the consignment, and the official record does not read identically today. Until the 2021 amendment, Section 46(3) of the Customs Act, as substituted by the Finance Act 2017 with effect from 31-03-2017, required the importer to present the bill of entry before the end of the next day following the day, excluding holidays, on which the aircraft, vessel or vehicle carrying the goods arrived. That is the day after arrival position, and it is the one older sources correctly describe for consignments of that vintage.

The amending instrument is the Finance Act 2021, Act 13 of 2021, section 93, which substituted the words in Section 46(3) with effect from 28-03-2021. CBIC's Circular No. 08/2021-Customs dated 29-03-2021 reads the amended section as requiring an importer to file before the end of the day, including holidays, preceding the day of arrival, and Commissionerate public notices reproducing that circular say the same. That is the day before arrival position, and it is the one that applies from 28-03-2021.

Why do official sources still disagree, and what should you do?

Because the compiled text and the executive reading of it are not identical on the page. The compilation of the Customs Act published on India Code as on 16-09-2025 renders Section 46(3) as requiring presentation before the end of the day, including holidays, on which the conveyance arrives, without the word preceding, while its own footnote records the substitution only of the earlier phrase before the end of the next day following the day, excluding holidays. CBIC's circular, the Commissionerate public notices and the field practice all apply the preceding day reading.

We report both because both sit on official records, and we are not in a position to resolve a drafting question between them. The working answer for an importer is the preceding day, because that is what the administering authority has circulated and what the customs automated system is configured to, and because filing earlier than required carries no penalty while filing later does. Before you rely on it for a specific consignment, read the text of Section 46(3) in force on that consignment's dates.

Which consignments get until the end of the day of arrival?

The first proviso to Section 46(3) empowers the Board to prescribe different time limits, which shall not be later than the end of the day of arrival. It used that power through Notification No. 34/2021-Customs (N.T.) dated 29-03-2021, the Bill of Entry (Electronic Integrated Declaration and Paperless Processing) Amendment Regulations 2021, which amended the 2018 Regulations notified by Notification No. 36/2018-Customs (N.T.) dated 11-05-2018, and through Notification No. 35/2021-Customs (N.T.) of the same date for manual filing under the Bill of Entry (Forms) Regulations 1976.

Per CBIC Circular No. 08/2021-Customs dated 29-03-2021, seaport imports consigned from Bangladesh, the Maldives, Myanmar, Pakistan or Sri Lanka, and imports at airports and land customs stations, may be filed by the end of the day of arrival. Everything else at a seaport is due by the end of the preceding day. Inland container depots are the ragged edge: two Commissionerate public notices reproducing the same circular place them in opposite columns, and Jawaharlal Nehru Custom House Public Notice No. 29/2024 frames the preceding day rule as applying to a customs port other than an inland container depot and an air freight station. Confirm your own station rather than infer it.

How early can it be filed, and does filing early fix the rate?

Early is generous and it is not a lock. The second proviso to Section 46(3) of the Customs Act allows a bill of entry to be presented at any time not exceeding thirty days prior to the expected arrival of the conveyance, that phrase having been substituted by the Finance Act 2018 with effect from 28-03-2018 for the earlier within thirty days of. CBIC Circular No. 08/2021-Customs also removed the requirement for a master bill of lading or master airway bill at the advance filing stage, so an advance bill of entry can rest on the house document alone.

What early filing does not do is freeze the rate. Section 15(1)(a) of the Customs Act provides that the rate of duty and tariff valuation applicable to goods entered for home consumption is the rate in force on the date the bill of entry is presented, but its proviso provides that a bill of entry presented before the date of entry inwards of the vessel, or the arrival of the aircraft or vehicle, shall be deemed to have been presented on the date of that entry inwards or arrival. So an advance filing buys processing time, not a rate.

Which fields decide the assessment?

Three, and they are compounding rather than independent. Classification decides the tariff rate, the eligibility for any exemption and the applicability of a trade remedy together, so a classification error does not produce a small error. Valuation is governed by Section 14(1) of the Customs Act, under which the value is the transaction value, the price actually paid or payable for the goods when sold for export to India for delivery at the time and place of importation, subject to the conditions in the rules, and the third proviso to Section 14(1) requires that price to be calculated at the rate of exchange in force on the date the bill of entry is presented, as determined by the Board.

The first proviso to Section 14(1) is the one that catches importers out. Transaction value includes, in addition to the price, amounts paid or payable for costs and services including commissions and brokerage, engineering, design work, royalties and licence fees, costs of transportation to the place of importation, insurance, loading, unloading and handling charges, to the extent and in the manner specified in the rules. A royalty settled separately from the invoice is still, on the face of the section, an addition to the value it was assessed on.

Which fields decide eligibility rather than the amount?

Origin and prohibition. Section 28DA of the Customs Act 1962, inserted with effect from 27-03-2020, requires an importer claiming a preferential rate under a trade agreement to declare that the goods qualify as originating, to possess sufficient information as to how the origin criteria including regional value content and product specific criteria are satisfied, to furnish that information as prescribed, and to exercise reasonable care as to its accuracy. Section 28DA(2) states plainly that submitting a certificate of origin issued by an issuing authority does not absolve the importer of that responsibility.

Prohibition works the same way and is broader. Section 46(4A)(c) makes compliance with any restriction or prohibition relating to the goods, under the Customs Act or under any other law in force, part of what the importer ensures in presenting the bill of entry. That is the field where a wrong answer is not repriced, it is refused. What stops a container at the port covers those gates and the lead times they run on.

Where to go from here

The declaration is one document with three separate consequences: a deadline, a duty figure and an eligibility answer. Each has its own guide.

• What missing the deadline costs. Late bill of entry charges covers the daily schedule, the ceiling and the waiver route.
• The full document sequence. Documents required to import into India places the bill of entry inside the arrival to out of charge chain.
• How the duty figure is built. How import duty stacks shows why the sequence of components, not the sum of the rates, produces the total.
• Why early filing is not enough. Half of India's bills of entry get amended, and 95 percent of the amended ones were filed in advance.

Frequently asked questions

When is a bill of entry due, the day before arrival or the day after?

For consignments from 28-03-2021, CBIC Circular No. 08/2021-Customs dated 29-03-2021 reads Section 46(3) of the Customs Act 1962, as amended by the Finance Act 2021, as requiring the bill of entry before the end of the day, including holidays, preceding the day of arrival. Before that amendment, Section 46(3) as substituted by the Finance Act 2017 required it before the end of the next day following the day, excluding holidays, of arrival. Official sources still render the current wording differently, so check the text in force on your dates.

Which imports may be filed by the end of the day of arrival?

Per CBIC Circular No. 08/2021-Customs dated 29-03-2021, seaport imports consigned from Bangladesh, the Maldives, Myanmar, Pakistan or Sri Lanka, and imports arriving at airports and land customs stations, may be filed by the end of the day of arrival rather than the preceding day. The treatment of inland container depots is stated differently in different Commissionerate public notices reproducing that circular, so confirm the position for your own customs station.

How early can a bill of entry be filed in India?

The second proviso to Section 46(3) of the Customs Act 1962 allows a bill of entry to be presented at any time not exceeding thirty days prior to the expected arrival of the aircraft, vessel or vehicle. CBIC Circular No. 08/2021-Customs dated 29-03-2021 also removed the requirement to hold a master bill of lading or master airway bill for an advance filing, so an advance bill of entry can be filed on the house document alone.

Does filing a bill of entry early lock in the duty rate?

No. Section 15(1)(a) of the Customs Act 1962 fixes the rate of duty and tariff valuation as that in force on the date the bill of entry is presented, but the proviso to Section 15(1) deems a bill of entry presented before entry inwards of the vessel, or before the arrival of the aircraft or vehicle, to have been presented on the date of that entry inwards or arrival. Early filing buys processing time, not a rate.

Does a certificate of origin protect an importer claiming a preferential rate?

Not on its own. Section 28DA(2) of the Customs Act 1962 provides that the fact that an importer has submitted a certificate of origin issued by an issuing authority shall not absolve the importer of the responsibility to exercise reasonable care. Section 28DA(1) separately requires the importer to declare that the goods qualify as originating and to possess sufficient information on how the origin criteria, including regional value content and product specific criteria, are satisfied.