Submit monthly data of appeals disposed of: CBDT to officers

To fast-track disposal of tax cases, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has started reviewing the performance of its officers and asked commissioners to submit data on a number of appeals they have disposed of every month against the given target.

There is a total of nearly 2.59 lakh cases pending adjudication before commissioners of income tax (appeal) — CIT(A) — and it is estimated that each would have some 400 cases pending before them.

The CBDT has also asked CITs (A) to upload the data of all the appeals pending before them as on February 29, 2016, on its data collection portal by October 21.

In a communication to all CITs (A), the CBDT has asked them to send details of the number of cases disposed of to the Research and Statistics (R&S) wing of the office of director general of income tax by 7th of every month.

"The said data are required on a monthly basis by the board to review the performance of each CIT (A) in-charge vis a vis targets. It is hence requested that the said data may be sent to the R&S wing by all the CITs (A) concerned," the CBDT said.

Last month, the CBDT had asked its officers to proactively encourage assessees to take advantage of the one-time tax dispute resolution scheme, which ends on December 31.

In a new letter marked to field officers, the CBDT said it intends to take up publicity campaign to familiarise the appellants about the said scheme.

"The said campaign would be systems-driven. Hence, it may be ensured that data of all the appeals pending before CIT (A) as on February 29, 2016, is uploaded on ITBA module for CIT (A) latest by October 21," it said.

According to the I-T department data, there were 73,402 appeals with tax effect above Rs 10 lakh and 1,85,858 below Rs 10 lakh pending before CITs (A) as on February 29. Thus, 2,59,260 appellants are eligible to avail of this scheme.

The Direct Tax Dispute Resolution Scheme, introduced from June 1, seeks to address the issue of pending litigation before these commissioners.

According to the scheme, a taxpayer who has an appeal pending before the CIT (A) can settle his/her case by paying the disputed tax and interest up to the date of assessment. No penalty in respect of cases with disputed tax up to Rs 10 lakh will be levied.

For cases exceeding Rs 10 lakh, 25 per cent of penalty will be levied and any pending appeal against a penalty order can also be settled by paying 25 per cent of the minimum of the imposable penalty.