Clarifications on provisions of the Direct Tax Vivad se Vishwas Act, 2020

Circular No. 21/2020

F. No. IT(A)/1/2020-TPL
Government of India
Ministry of Finance
Department of Revenue
Central Board of Direct Taxes
***

Dated: 4th December, 2020

Sub.: Clarifications on provisions of the Direct Tax Vivad se Vishwas Act, 2020 – reg.

With the objective to reduce pending in‘orne tax litigation, generate timely revenue for the Government and 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 (hereinafter referred to as Vivad se Vishwas’) was enacted on 17th March, 2020. The provisions of Vivad se Vishwas were amended by the Taxation and Other Laws (Relaxation and Amendment of Certain Provisions) Act, 2020 to provide certain relaxations in view of the COVID-19 pandemic and also to empower the Central Government to notify certain dates. Towards this end, vide notification dated 27th October, 2020 the date for payment without additional amount -under Vivad se Vishwas was extended from 31st December, 2020 to 31st March, 2021. The last date for filing declaration under Vivad se Vishwas was also notified as 31st December, 2020. Subsequently, the Central Board of Direct Taxes issued a circular no. 18/2020 dated 28th October, 2020 relaxing the time limit of 15 days prescribed in section 5(1) of Vivad se Vishwas for making payment of amount payable, as determined in a certificate issued by the Designated Authority.

2. In order to facilitate the taxpayers, the Board had vide circular no. 9/2020 dated 22nd April, 2020 issued clarifications in form of answers to 55 frequently asked questions (FAQs) on issues related to eligibility, computation of amount payable, procedure and consequences under Vivad se Vishwas. Several representations have been received thereafter seeking further relaxation and clarifications with respect to such issues. Some of these representations have already been addressed through the aforesaid notification dated 27th  October, 2020 and circular dated 28th October, 2020.

3. Section 10 and 11 of the Vivad se Vishwas empowers the Board / Central Government to issue directions or orders in public interest or to remove difficulties. This circular is being issued in continuation of circular dated 22nd April, 2020 (which covered Q. no, I – 55) under section 10 and 11 of the Vivad se Vishwas to provide answers to 34 more FAQs (Q. no. 56 – 89). It may be noted that in the FAQs, Income Tax Act, 1961 has been referred to as the Act, Designated Authority (under Vivad se Vishwas) has been referred to as the DA, Assessing Officer has been referred to as the AO, Commissioner (Appeals) has been referred to as CIT(A), and the Income Tax Department has been referred to as the Department.

"QUESTIONS ON SCOPE/ELIGIBILITY (Q.No. 56-57)"

Please refer to the attached file for full notification.