Skip to main content

Monetary limit for filing appeals in tax cases raised

The limit has been increased to Rs 10 lakh in appellate tribunal and Rs 20 lakh in HCs
Seeking to reduce tax litigation by about 50 per cent, the finance ministry on Tuesday raised the monetary limit for filing appeals to Rs 10 lakh in appellate tribunal, and Rs 20 lakh in high courts (HCs).
It has been decided to withdraw appeals filed by the income tax (I-T) department in Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) and high courts for cases involving tax effect of below the new monetary limit. There are 75,000 cases pending in ITAT and HC.
Tax effect refers to the difference between what the I-T department's assessment of tax liability and asssessee’s assumption.
“The monetary limits for filing of appeals by the Department before the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) and the High Courts have been revised to tax effect of Rs 10 lakhs and Rs 20 lakhs respectively, from the present limits of tax effect of Rs 4 lakhs and Rs 10 lakhs,” Revenue Secretary Hasmukh Adhia told reporters.
The revised limits have been made applicable retrospectively to pending appeals also, he said, adding that directions have been issued that pending appeals which are below the revised monetary limits may be withdrawn or not pressed.
However, he added the cases involving substantive question of law would be pursued irrespective of the monetary limit.
Adhia further said that the government and the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) have also decided to set up a collegium of two chief commissioners would be set up by principal chief commissioners to decide on withdrawal of appeals filed by the department.
“This collegium will consider withdrawal of appeals filed by the Department in cases involving tax effect above the revised monetary limit from the High Courts if no question of law is involved, the issue is considered settled by the Department or the appeal is no longer relevant in view of subsequent amendment,” he said.
When asked whether the government is still sticking to the April 1, 2016, deadline for GST rollout, Adhia said, “we will take a call after the end of the ongoing Winter session of Parliament”.
The good and services tax is stuck in the Rajya Sabha because of the political logjam.
Business Standard, New Delhi, 16th Dec. 2015 

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Data storage norm splits digital payments industry

Data storage norm splits digital payments industry  India’s nascent digital payment industry could be thrown into disarray due to the demand by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) that all user data be stored within the country, fears an industry grouping, which has termed the decision as “heavy-handed”, even as others, including the country’s largest digital payment provider Paytm, have hailed the move.  In a bid to narrow the growing schism, the industry is planning to send a formal representation to the regulator highlighting its concerns, a top official told ET.  “We are trying to build a consensus on the issue," said the person adding that the representation to the central bank will be ready this week.  RBI on April 6, mandated all payment companies—global and local—to set up data storage facilities within India by October. The stringent six-month deadline has attracted the ire of several sections of the industry that fear it will lead to a disruption of wel...

Sebi to finalise options in commodities today

The Commodity Derivatives Advisory Committee of the Securities and Exchange Board of India ( Sebi) will meet on Friday with senior officials of the latter, to give a final shape to the rules on options trading in commodity futures, beside revising the warehousing norms to ensure good delivery on settlement. The decision taken, after discussing with the advisory committee, will be placed before the regulator’s board, to finalise the regulations. According to knowledgeable sources, three commodities in each segment, agricultural and non- agricultural, have been proposed for introducing options. It appears commodities from the soya and guar segments are preferred in the former. From the non- agri segment, it is likely that gold, silver and crude oil will be finalised. All these These have better liquidity and both the National Commodity and Derivatives Exchange and the Multi Commodity Exchange, respectively, will be able to introduce the options. In the equity segments, options ar...

E tailers global warehouses may come under tax net

E tailers  global warehouses may come under tax net Warehouses of e-commerce companies based in countries such as Australia, Japan, Italy,  Spain, the Netherlands, and Russia may not be exempted from paying the income tax in India  once the multilateral instrument (MLI) to prevent base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS)  comes into force. BEPS refers to the reporting framework mooted by the Organisation for Economic  Co-operation and Development (OECD) and signed by over 100 countries, including India, to  prevent exploiting gaps and mismatches in tax rules to shift profits by multinational  companies (MNCs) artificially to low-tax regimes. The representatives of 68 countries on June 7 this year signed an agreement (MLI) in Paris  to amend their tax treaties to bring them in alignment with measures to prevent BEPS.  However, there is still time for synchronising tax treaties with the multilateral  instrument. India has submitte...