by Harish Gupta, National Editor, Lokmat Group
special report with Table
Govt. eyes Rs 70000 crores from Amensty scheme
DeMo declarants get last chance to come clean
Harish Gupta
New Delhi, Feb 3
The government hopes to mop up as much as Rs 50000- 70000 crores in Income Tax under an Amensty scheme announced by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in her Budget on Saturday last.
Interestingly, this bail out package will not only apply to 5 lakh tax dispute cases involving an amount of Rs 11 lakh crores, but also to those who got Income-Tax notices under Demonetisation scheme. These 4.78 lakh disputed cases include 87000 notices issued under DeMo scheme of November 2016. The IT department found these 87000 cases as suspicious entries amounting to Rs 1.50 lakh crores.
It is learnt that the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi was personally keen to bring this one last Amensty scheme for these suspicious assesses to pay taxes minus penalty and interest. The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) is hopeful that it will collect Rs 70000 crores extra under this Amensty scheme.
The scheme will cover all tax litigation, including those against individuals. Thousands of jewelers across the country including more than 500 in Mumbai, are likely to avail benefit under this scheme open until June 30, 2020.
The scheme “Vivad Se Vishwas” is aimed at bringing down tax disputes pending at the level of the Commissioner of Income-Tax, Tribunals and Courts. The government hopes that the number of disputes will come down drastically as the government is only seeking the principal amount which is pending for even for some decades without interest & penalty. The dispute at the Commissioner level alone is Rs 5.71 lakh crores. It is this amount that the government is targeting and reap the harvest by March 31, 2020. Those who want to settle dispute by June 2020 will have to pay 5% extra.
This initiative is similar amnesty scheme that the PM cleared for indirect tax floated in the July 2019 Budget. The Sabka Vishwas Scheme fetched the government over Rs 35,000 crore and resolved 1.61 lakh cases. The amount involved in these dispute was Rs 80,000 crore tax dues and the government settled for Rs 35000 crores. That scheme waived up to 70 per cent of the tax dues and 100 per cent of interest and penalty. But the Direct Tax scheme will not give any relief in principal tax demand. PM Modi was enthusiastic about the success of this scheme as he repeatedly mentioned of it at his public rally today.
Ends
