Customs clearance software is the software in which an importer, an exporter or their customs broker prepares every customs document and files it online with the customs department. In India, these documents are filed on ICEGATE, the Indian Customs Electronic Gateway, which is the online system of the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC). An export is declared on a shipping bill. An import is declared on a bill of entry.
Most traders do not file these papers themselves. They hire a customs broker, a person or firm licensed by customs to file declarations on a trader's behalf. In India, a customs broker was earlier called a customs house agent, or CHA. A broker files hundreds of declarations a month, so it uses customs clearance software to prepare them and send them to ICEGATE.
Here is a typical case. An electronics company in Pune imports 2,000 sensor modules from Taiwan, worth ₹40 lakh, through Jawaharlal Nehru Port near Mumbai. The broker receives the supplier's invoice, the packing list and the bill of lading from the freight forwarding software. An intelligent document processing (IDP) model reads the three documents and fills in the bill of entry: the importer, the value, the weight and the description of the goods. The software then suggests the HS code, the eight-digit number in India's customs tariff that identifies the product and decides its rate of duty. The broker checks the code, because a wrong code means the wrong duty. The software calculates the duty: basic customs duty, a social welfare surcharge on that duty, and IGST, the GST charged on imports. The broker files the bill of entry, and the company pays the duty online.
Customs then decides how closely to check. Its risk system lets many low-risk declarations through without opening the container, and sends others to an officer for examination. Once customs releases the goods, the port's terminal operating system lets a truck collect the container. The company can usually claim the IGST paid at import as a tax credit, so the details also go to its indirect tax software.
Many countries now run a national single window: one online place where a trader files every document that customs and other departments need, such as the drug regulator's or the food regulator's approval. India's single window is part of ICEGATE. For air shipments, the declaration goes through the airport's air cargo community system. Small parcels sent abroad by online sellers use simpler forms, handled by cross-border shipping tools.