Black money law intentionally harsh: CBDT chairperson

The new black money law has been intentionally made harsh because the government is tacking a problem which normal law were not able to address for so many years, Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) chairperson Anita Kapur said on Tuesday.

"We owe it to the country to ensure at least law is clear and the law is stringent so that the menace is handled," she said at an event on taxation organised by the PHD Chambers of Commerce and Industry.

Kapur also said that government is willing to respond on industry's concerns raised on procedures to be followed under the new black money law.

"We have been issuing FAQs. On compliance window we issued three sets of responses to the queries raised, we are open to issue responses to what you find problematic in the procedures on the black money," she said.

The CBDT chief also said her department was trying to address issues on the administration side but advised the industry not to overplay such issues.

"We do not want to recover taxes which we are not entitled to recover, we want taxes which as per our law, we have been obligated to recover," she said.

"Less than one percent of taxpayers get to see our offices, 99 percent of taxpayers do not need to come to our offices. We accept their returns, we do a non-human interface processing of cases, we do issue refunds without human intervention," she added.

In this regard, Kapur said arbitration is not the best way to resolve tax disputes.

"One must understand that if MAP (Mutual Agreement Procedure) works, there is no need for arbitration," she said.

"Because taxation is a sovereign right and with the two competent authorities who represent the two sovereigns cannot resolve a dispute then how would you ensure that the arbitration award will be fair," she added.