Govt preparing roadmap for dealing with tax litigation: Revenue Secretary

The Finance Ministry is preparing a roadmap for dealing with the problem of large number of tax litigations, Revenue Secretary Hasmukh Adhia said today.

He also said that the Justice R V Easwar panel will look at ways to simplify Income Tax laws though it will not specifically deal with the issues concerning retrospective tax amendment.

"We are preparing a roadmap separately for dealing with the existing tax litigation," he said.

It is believed that the government is considering an option to raise threshold limit for cases to be filed before Income Tax Appellate Tribunal.

In the Budget 2014-15 speech, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had said that a tax demand of more than Rs 4 lakh crore is under dispute and litigation before various Courts and Appellate authorities.

Adhia said terms of reference for the Committee for simplification of tax laws are there and they will work accordingly.

Last week, the government set up a committee under a former Delhi High Court judge to identify clauses that lead to litigations and suggest modifications to bring predictability and certainty in tax laws.

The committee will study and identify the provisions or phrases in the (Income Tax) Act which are leading to litigations due to different interpretations.

Also, the panel will study and identify the provisions which are impacting the ease of doing business as well as identify the areas and provisions of the Act for simplification in the light of the existing jurisprudence.

The terms of reference of the committee also include giving suggestions on "alternatives and modifications to the existing provisions and areas so identified to bring about predictability and certainty in tax laws without substantial impact on the tax base and revenue collection".

The panel, which will have a term of one year, will set its own procedures for regulating its work.