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The Finance Ministry on Friday claimed that the Direct Tax dispute resolution scheme Vivad se Vishwas has helped to settle cases worth over ₹97,000 crore. It received so far 15 times better response compared to 2016’s similar sScheme
Under the scheme, so far 125,144 cases have opted for the Vivad se Vishwas (VsV) Scheme which is 24.5 percent of the entire long pending over 5.10 lakh cases that were in various tax disputes at different legal fora.
Sources said that the Vivad se Vishwas Scheme has received 15 times better response in comparison to Direct Tax Dispute Resolution Scheme, 2016 (DTDRS) and with regard to the settled disputed amount it is 153 times of DTDRS. It may be noted that earlier such tax dispute resolution schemes like Kar Vivad Samadhan Scheme, 1998 (KVSS) and DTDRS could not gather much momentum. The 1998’s KVS Scheme could gather merely ₹739 crore with just a few thousand cases while the 2016’s DTDR Scheme resolved just 86 hundred and odd cases only worth an amount of ₹631 Crore.
Unlike its earlier counterparts, Vivad se Viswas scheme has under its ambit all appeals or SLPs till Supreme Court pending as on Janaury 31, 2020. It allows covering matters pending before Dispute Resolution Panel (DRP) or where directions have been issued but order not passed by DRP on or before January 31, 2020. Even the Revision petitions (under section 264) filed on or before the said date are also covered.
DR Committee
Sources said that the setting up of the Dispute Resolution Committee (DRC) announced in the recent budget presented in the Parliament on Monday is very much in furtherance of the VsV Scheme. Under DRC, further impetus is to be provided to resolve the litigations in the best interest of the small taxpayers in a Tax Lok Adaalat format which would bring transparency and accountability in a faceless manner. It may be noted that it is due to this huge response the last date to opt for VsV has been further extended till February 28.
The Scheme was introduced with the objective to reduce pending income tax litigation, generate timely revenue for the Government and to benefit taxpayers by providing them peace of mind, certainty and savings on account of time and resources that would otherwise be spent on the long-drawn and vexatious litigation process. The Direct Tax Vivad se Vishwas Act, 2020 was enacted on March 17.
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