THE DIRECT TAX VIVAD SE VISHWAS BILL, 2020 read with AMENDMENTS

The Direct Tax Vivad se Vishwas Bill, 2020 (the scheme), tabled in Parliament on February 5, 2020, proposes an amnesty scheme for litigations pending as on January 31, 2020, before any of the appellate forums.
The scheme seeks to meet two major objectives:
1 Reduce time and efforts spent over long drawn litigation (4,83,000 Cases Pending as on
30.11.2019)
2 Facilitate tax collection by the government stuck under litigation. ( 9.32 lakh Crores
outstanding tax dues as on. 30.11.2019 which is almost equal to one year tax collection)

Under the scheme, a taxpayer would be required to pay only the amount of the disputed taxes and will get complete waiver of interest and penalty provided he files a declaration by March 31, 2020. Those who avail this scheme after March 31, 2020 will have to pay an additional amount of 10% of disputed tax.

1. Further, Senior officials of the Government have been meeting various stakeholders such as industry stalwarts, Trade and professional associations, Chartered Accountants, etc, to obtain inputs on a practical level, to ensure that the scheme covers maximum payers in a
   comprehensive manner and then the Cabinet approved certain key amendments to the
   scheme, which include:
   Expansion of scope to include cases where, as on January 31, 2020:
   a) the appeal at lower forum is disposed off but the time limits for filing a further appeal has
   not expired;
   b) have pending status at the Dispute Resolution Panel (DRP);
   c) DRP directions have been passed, but final assessment order is awaited; and
   d) Revision petitions are pending before Commissioner of Income-tax.
2. Further, search cases where the disputed demand is less than Rs 5 crore for any particular year have also been included.
3. Further, the new avatar of the Scheme reduces the tax payable by 50% for cases where appeals pending are Revenue appeals filed by the Department for which the taxpayer would wish to file a declaration.
4. Certain other procedural aspects also seem to have been addressed. For example, i) withdrawal of appeals are now required only after intimation of payment by the department; ii) settlement under the scheme will not be viewed as a precedence for future cases;
5. Further, Provision of Refund under Vivad Se Vishwas Scheme is now made. It would mean that If the assessee before filing declaration has paid some tax amount before appellate authorities and such amount exceeds the amount payable under the scheme then he would be allowed refund of such amount.

The below content is a compilation of The Direct Tax Vivad Se Vishwas Bill, 2020 tabled in the Parliament on 5th Feb, 2020 read with amendments to the provisions of the Bill given to the Parliament on 14th Feb, 2020. The same is prepared by www.itatorders.in Team. While due care has been taken in preparing this document, the existence of mistakes and omissions herein is not ruled out.

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