In an effort to reduce litigation, the Income Tax Department on Friday announced e-Dispute Resolution Scheme (e-DRS).
“This is another initiative by the government towards minimising litigation,” the Department said in a statement.
As per e-DRS, a taxpayer can opt for the scheme against the ‘specified order’ which includes an order in which the aggregate sum of variations proposed or made does not exceed ₹10 lakh and returned income for the relevant assessment year does not exceed ₹50 lakh. Further, such order should not be based on search/surveys or information received under double taxation avoidance agreement.
The scheme will enable specified taxpayer to file an application electronically for dispute resolution to the DRC (Dispute Resolution Committee) designated for the region of Principal Chief Commissioner of Income-tax (Pr. CCIT) having jurisdiction over the taxpayer. To this end, DRCs have been constituted in all 18 jurisdictional Pr. CCIT regions across the country.
According to e-DRS, a DRC may make modification to the variations in the specified order and decide to grant reduction/waiver of penalty and prosecution. The Committee is mandated to pass its order within six months from the end of month in which application for dispute resolution is admitted by it.
The application for e-DRS is to be filed in Form No. 34BC on the e-filing portal of the Income Tax Department, within one month from the date of receipt of specified order. In cases where appeal has already been filed and is pending before the Commissioner of Income-tax (Appeals), the application for e-DRS, is to be filed on or before September 30. In cases, where the specified order has been passed on or before August 31, 2024, and the time for filing appeal against such order before CIT (Appeals) has not lapsed, the application for dispute resolution can be filed on or before September 30.