New Delhi , Feb 1
The Union Budget 2020-2021 on Saturday proposed the ‘Vivad Se Vishwas’ Scheme (No dispute but trust) which aims at reducing litigations in the direct taxes payments. While presenting the Budget in Parliament, the Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said, “Taxpayers in whose cases appeals are pending at any level can benefit from this scheme.”
Under the proposed ‘Vivad Se Vishwas’ scheme, the Finance Minister said that a taxpayer would be required to pay only the amount of the disputed taxes and will get a complete waiver of interest and penalty provided he pays by March 31, 2020. Those who avail this scheme after March 31, 2020, will have to pay some additional amount. The scheme will remain open till June 30, 2020. Sitharaman said, “I hope that taxpayers will make use of this opportunity to get relief from the vexatious litigation process.”
The Finance Minister said that there are 4,83,000 direct tax cases pending in various appellate forums i.e. Commissioner (Appeals), ITATs, High Courts and the Supreme Court. Referring to several measures taken to reduce tax litigations, Sitharaman said that in the last Budget, Sabka Vishwas Scheme was brought in to reduce litigation in indirect taxes. It resulted in settling over 1,89,000 cases, she said. |
