IT office settles international disputes worth Rs.5,000 crore

India's Income Tax department has resolved 180 disputes worth Rs.5,000 crore since April 2014 under a mutual agreement procedure (MAP), the government said on Tuesday.

"The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) resolved cases pertaining to various sectors of the economy like software services, IT-enabled services, manufacturing, consultancy services, among others," a union finance ministry statement here said.

The countries with which cases have been resolved are the US, Japan, the UK and China, it added.

MAP is an international tax dispute resolution mechanism under the Double Taxation Avoidance Agreements (DTAA) India has signed with many countries.

"The MAP programme is led by one or more Competent Authorities designated by the signatory countries to resolve tax disputes under the provisions of each treaty," the statement said.

"MAP has emerged as an effective alternative tax dispute resolution mechanism. In the past two years, increased focus on MAP has resulted in resolution of large number of disputes relating to double taxation," it added.

According to the finance ministry, this is one of the CBDT initiatives to ensure a fair and expeditious dispute resolution regime to encourage foreign investment in the country.