The Economic Times daily newspaper is available online now.

    Budget 2019: Amnesty scheme to resolve legacy tax issues

    Synopsis

    All parties can settle the disputes, save those who face conviction and those who have moved the Settlement Commission.

    tax-ThinkstockThinkStock Photos
    The government has unveiled an amnesty scheme to resolve excise and service tax disputes pertaining to the period before the introduction of the goods and services tax to clear the backlog of cases and improve the ease of doing business. Even two years after the indirect tax regime was replaced by GST, the litigation doesn’t seem to die down and there is a huge pendency, tax experts said.

    “The announcement relates to the legacy dispute resolution scheme, which intends to reduce the pending service tax and excise litigation of the pre-GST regime. It is expected that the scheme will support businesses where there are various ambiguous issues pending before the tribunals,” said Abhishek A Rastogi, a partner at Khaitan & Co.

    All parties can settle the disputes, save those who face conviction and those who have moved the Settlement Commission. Relief under the scheme varies from 40% to 70% of the tax dues for cases other than voluntary disclosure cases, depending on the amount of tax dues involved.

    “More than Rs 3.75 lakh crore is blocked in litigations in service tax and excise. There is a need to unload this baggage and allow business to move on,” finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said.


    (You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel)
    (Catch all the Business News, Breaking News, Budget 2024 News, Budget 2024 Live Coverage, Events and Latest News Updates on The Economic Times.)

    Download The Economic Times News App to get Daily Market Updates & Live Business News.

    Subscribe to The Economic Times Prime and read the ET ePaper online.

    ...more

    (You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel)
    (Catch all the Business News, Breaking News, Budget 2024 News, Budget 2024 Live Coverage, Events and Latest News Updates on The Economic Times.)

    Download The Economic Times News App to get Daily Market Updates & Live Business News.

    Subscribe to The Economic Times Prime and read the ET ePaper online.

    ...more
    The Economic Times

    Stories you might be interested in