Interest Must Be Paid Up To Settlement Panel Order Date

The Supreme Court has ruled that an assessee who fails to pay the advance tax and later goes before the income-tax settlement commission is obliged to pay interest up to the date on which the commission passes its order. The starting point for the period for which interest has to be paid is April 1 next following the relevant financial year.

A three-judge Bench of the Supreme Court resolved doubts about the end-point of the period for which interest has to be paid in the judgment, in the Commissioner of Income-Tax vs Hindustan Bulk Carriers case, delivered last fortnight.

The mechanism of the settlement commission was introduced by an amendment to the Income-Tax Act in 1973 to