CBIC Tax Assistant Departmental Exams: Any Tax Assistant in CBIC i.e. Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs needs to pass the Tax Assistant Departmental Exams to be permanent in the job and for getting promotion.
Without passing these Departmental Exams, the job of any Tax Assistant is neither considered permanent nor can they be promoted to the next higher posts.
We have already discussed about the next promotion of a Tax Assistant which is Executive Assistant (earlier Senior Tax Assistant) in another article.
Therefore any newly recruited Tax Assistant is advised to clear these departmental examinations within a stipulated time after appointment to get confirmation and promotion in the job.
In this article, we have explained in detail about both these types of examinations. Also we have given list of all topics asked in these examinations.
Also Read: Inspector and Tax Assistant Job profile in CBDT and CBIC GST Inspector Salary as per 7th CPC, Job Profile and Promotion
So let’s know in detail about the Tax Assistant Departmental Exam.
Types of CBIC Tax Assistant Departmental Exams:
As we have already told that the newly recruited Tax Assistant has to give two types of Departmental Exams.
First is Tax Assistant Departmental Exam for Confirmation and second is Tax Assistant Departmental Exam for Promotion.
Let’s get detailed information about both these departmental exams.
Tax Assistant Departmental Exam for Confirmation :
As the name suggests, this exam is conducted for the confirmation in the job of Tax Assistant.
Any new Tax Assistant who is directly recruited through SSC CGL exam has to clear this exam for confirmation in the job.
Now this question must be arising in the mind of many tax assistants that is it not enough to pass the SSC CGL exam to be permanent in CBIC?
So it is true that a candidate’s job in the department is not considered permanent just by passing the SSC CGL exam. Therefore it is necessary to pass this departmental exam to be permanent in the job.
When is the Tax Assistant Departmental Exam conducted for Confirmation?
The notification of this examination is often published on the official website of the respective zone in the month of January.
After this the newly appointed Tax Assistants have to fill a proforma attached with that notification and after getting it verified by their superior officer send it to the respective zone headquarters.
Also, those Tax Assistants also have to fill this application who had appeared in this exam earlier but could not pass the exam.
This exam is usually conducted in the month of March after all the applications are received by the respective zone headquarters.
Examination Centers
The examination center of those Tax Assistants is held in the headquarters of the respective zone only, whose posting is in the city located at the headquarters. The examination of the remaining Tax Assistants is conducted only in the respective Commissionerate.
Number of Papers and Syllabus
Syllabus of some paper of Tax Assistant Departmental Exam is based on work done in office and Syllabus of some paper is based on questions related to general knowledge and computer.
The details of the question papers to be held in the examination are as follows-
| Paper | Subject | Qualifying Marks/ Total Marks |
|---|---|---|
| I | Customs Law (with books) | 50/100 |
| II(B) | Central Excise, Service Tax, Valuation etc | 50/100 |
| III | Computer Application and Proficiency in use of Internet | 50/100 |
| IV | Economic and Commercial Geography and General Knowledge | 50/100 |
| V | Administration (with books except CCS (Conduct Rules, 1964) | 50/100 |
| VI | Hindi (Hindi Written paper – 80 marks), HINDI (Proficiency in Hindi Conversation and reading – 20 marks) | 50/100 |
Note: Candidates who have passed ‘Hindi’ as one of the subjects in SSLC or Class X board examination are exempted from appearing in Hindi paper.
Syllabus of Tax Assistant Departmental Exam for confirmation-
PAPER – I (CUSTOMS LAW) (duration of exam-3 hours)
- The Customs Act, 1962 (52 of 1962)
- The Customs Manual (Latest Edition)
- The Customs Tariff Act, 1975 (51 of 1975)
PAPER II (A) Procedure and Local Orders of the Customs House (केवल Customs Department में नियुक्त Tax Assistants के लिए) ( duration of exam-3 hours )
- Office Manuals relating to-Import
- Export
- Bond
- Drawback
- Cash and accounts
- Internal Audit
- Manifest Clearance
- Correspondence and Records
- Refund
- Local supplement to the Indian Customs Manual
- Rules and orders in force in the Custom House which are included in the
- Standing and the Departmental Orders and all instructions relating to the particular Custom House which are contained in the Manual of the Custom House.
PAPER II (B) Central Excise, Service Tax, Valuation etc. (only for GST Tax Assistants) (duration of exam-3 hours)
- The Central Excise Act, 1944 (1 of 1944)
- CENVAT Credit Rules, 2005
- The Central Excise Tariff Act, 1985 (5 of 1986)
- The Central Excise Rules, 2002
- Provisions relating to Service Tax in the Finance Act, 1994.
- The Central Excise Valuation (Determination of price Excisable goods)
Rules, 2000.
PAPER III- Computer Application and Proficiency in use of Internet
- Overview of Hardware
- Windows
a. Logging into Windows
b. Shutting down and use of CTRL – ALT – DEL.
c. Windows Explorer
d. Use of FIND OR SEARCH
e. Using floppy disc and CD ROM - MS Office
A. MS Word
i. Creating a new document
ii. Basic formatting including Bullets and numbering and Header and Footer.
iii. Find and Replace.
iv. Auto correct and spell check
v. Saving documents
vi. Sending documents through floppy.
vii. Printing the documents including print preview and layout.
viii. Table handling.
ix. Mail Merge
B. MS Excel
i. Introduction to Excel
ii. Creating a simple worksheet
iii. Basic formatting
iv. Simple functions and calculations
v. Saving / printing of documents
vi. Print Preview
C. MS Power Point
i. Introduction to power point
ii. The power point screen
iii. The auto Content Wizard.
iv. The slide Views-an overview
v. Using the slide views
vi. Customizing slide structure
vii. Adding text to slides
viii. Adding text to slides
ix. Moving through presentations
x. Inserting the deleting slides
xi. Inserting pictures
xii. Printing
xiii. Running a presentation
xiv. Introduction to internet
xv. Surfing and searching
xvi. E-mail
PAPER IV-Economic and Commercial Geography and General Knowledge ( duration of exam-3 hours)
a. Simple questions on commercial geography
b. A short essay or a draft on a set subject
c. Making a précis or a passage not exceeding 400 words.
PAPER V- Administration (duration of exam-3 hours)
- Civil Service Regulations, so far as they relate to Pensions only.
- Fundamental Rules and Supplementary Rules (Posts and Telegraphs Compilation)
a. Section III (Fundamental Rules) – excluding Special Leave Rules
b. Section IV (Supplementary Rules) – Paras I to V
c. Appendices – 3, 3-A, 7-A, 8, 13, 15, 18 and 18-A. - The Central Civil Services (Classification, Control and Appeal) Rules, 1965.
- The General Provident Fund (Central Services) Rules, 1972.
- The General Financial Rules (Volume I, Chapters 1 to 7, 10 and 13, Volume II- Appendices 7, 8 and 17)
- The Central Treasury Rules (Volume I, part I, Section II, Part V, Chapters II to V, IX and Part X. Volume II-Appendices 4).
- The Central Civil Services (Conduct) Rules. 1964.
PAPER VI- Hindi (duration of exam-3 hours)
i. Translation of a passage from English to Hindi and from Hindi to English.
ii. Correction of sentences and giving Hindi words equivalents for English words.
iii. Answer from Hindi passage,
iv. Conversation
v. Reading of petitions and documents written in manuscripts in Hindi.
vi. Classification of Official Language Act, 1963 (19 of 1963),
vii. Knowledge of Hindi rules and regulations.
Attempts for Tax Assistant Departmental Exam for confirmation:
The Tax Assistant Departmental Exam is conducted only once in a year for confirmation. Therefore, any Tax Assistant should take advantage of the opportunities in time.
Tax Assistants have to clear the Tax Assistant Departmental Exam for confirmation within a specified period of two years from the date of their appointment.
If a Tax Assistant does not pass this exam within these two years, then the annual increment received by him is stopped.
Apart from these two acceptable opportunities, the Commissioner of that Tax Assistant can provide two more opportunities. For this, Tax Assistant does not need any kind of application.
Even after this, if a Tax Assistant is not able to pass this exam, then the Chief Commissioner of that Commissionerate can provide another additional opportunity.
After the exhaustion of all these opportunities, two more additional opportunities can be provided by the Board only. For this, the Tax Assistant has to send an application to the Board, which will be forwarded by the concerned office of that Tax Assistant.
Despite this, if a Tax Assistant is not able to pass this exam, then he is terminated from the job.
But it is to be noted that if a Tax Assistant qualifies this exam during these additional opportunities, then his stalled Annual Increment is regularized.
Along with this, from the year from which his Annual Increment was stopped, till the year of Regularization, Arrears are also provided.
Tax Assistant Departmental Exam for Promotion
As mentioned in another of our articles, the first promotion of Tax Assistant is to the post of Executive Assistant.
But to get this promotion there is a Tax Assistant Departmental Exam. The thing to note is that any Tax Assistant who has not qualified the Confirmation Exam is not eligible for this Departmental Exam.
This Tax Assistant Departmental Exam for promotion is taken twice a year. Which is often organized in the months of March and September.
In this the following papers are taken for examination. The syllabus for this Tax Assistant Departmental Exam is as follows-
Paper I – Central Excise, GST and Customs Procedure
GST Act -COST Act 2017 -IGST Act, 2017, UTGST Act, 2017 और GST (Compensation to States) Act, 2017
CGST Rules, 2017 (Revised)
GST Rates
Central Excise Act, 1944.
Central Excise Rules,(Latest)
Central Excise Tariff Act, 1985.
CENVAT Credit Rules,(Latest
Customs Act 1962 and Rules & procedures.
CESTAT (Procedure) Rules, 1982 (revised)
Central Excise (Appeals) Rules, 2001.
Paper II – Computer Application (Theory & Practical)
Overview of Hardware and Software
a. Basics on Input devices.
b. Basics on output devices.
c. Basics of CPU.
d. Basics of Software.
Windows including-
a. Logging onto windows.
b. Passwords.
c. Shutting down and using of CTRL-ALT-DEL
d. Desktop including customization & Screen saver.
e. Task bar.
f. Windows explorer.
g. Use of FIND.
h. Using floppy disk and CD ROM.
Office 97-MS Word, MS Excel and MS PowerPoint
A. MS Word
i) Creating a new document
ii) Basic formatting including Bullets and numbering, Header & Footer.
iii) Find and Replaces.
iv) Auto Correct and Spell check.
v) Saving documents.,
vi) Sending documents through mail and floppy.
vii) Printing documents including print preview and layout.
viii) Help Menu .
ix) Table insertion.
B. MS Excel
i) Introduction to Excel
ii) Creating a simple worksheet.
iii) Relation between cells, use of Sign.
iv) Basic functioning.
v) Simple functions and calculations.
vi) Saving / Printing of documents.
vii) Print preview.
C. MS Power Point
i) Introduction to PowerPoint
ii) Reading simple presentation
iii) Using the slide views
iv) Inserting and deleting slides
v) Taking printout of slides
D. Internet including
i) Use of Web mail including attachment and files.
ii) Browsing including searches.
Paper III- Administration
Central Civil Services (Pension) Rules, 1972.
Central Civil Services (Classification, Control & Appeal) Rules 1965
Central Civil Services (Conduct) Rules, 1964
General Provident Fund (Central Services) Rules, 1960.
General Financial Rules, 2005 and Receipts and Payments, Rules 1983.
Central Civil Services (Leave) Rules, 1972.
Leave Travel Concession Rules
FR & SR.
Swamy’s Hand Book
Conclusion:
Departmental exams are very important for promotion in any government department. If an employee does not pass these examinations on time, his/her job is in danger.
Even if that employee takes advantage of some additional opportunities and somehow passes the examination, then there are big obstacles in his promotion. And if promotion is not done on time, then in future you have to suffer a lot financially.
Tax Assistant Departmental Exams are very important in CBIC also. A very important exam in these is the Tax Assistant’s Confirmation Exam.
If a Tax Assistant does not pass this exam on time, then the chances of losing his/her job increases. Not only this, the annual increment in his salary is also stopped.
In the above article, we have given detailed information about this exam of Tax Assistant and also about the paper and syllabus to be held in this exam.
If a Tax Assistant starts preparing for these examinations immediately after the appointment, then he will pass these examinations on time and will also get future promotions in time.
