Tax assessees who have disputes pending in Central Excise or Service Tax can settle those under the Legacy Dispute Resolution Scheme, said M. Periasamy, Joint Commissioner of GST and Central Excise, here on Saturday.
At a programme on the Scheme, Mr. Periasamy said tax assessees had time till the end of December to settle the disputes. The Scheme is tailored to free the small tax payers of the pending disputes and there will be no interest or penalty. If the tax payers had any grievance or required clarification, they can approach the Department, he said.
The entire scheme is operated online. The designated authority will have to finalise and issue a statement to the applicant within 60 days from the date the application is filed. In Coimbatore area, there are about 2,000 cases and so far 420 have filed applications, he said.
According to V. Lakshminarayanaswami, president of the Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Coimbatore, the Government has offered an opportunity to all concerned to close all the Legacy cases (cases relating to Central Excise and Service Tax) pending either before the adjudicating authorities or before the tribunals. All eligible persons should declare the tax dues and pay the same in accordance with the provisions of the Scheme.
Mr. Lakshminarayanaswami said that the Government was looking at settlingbrie nearly 1.8 lakh cases through the Scheme. However, so far, only 35,000 cases have been settled. Tax payers who had disputes in the earlier system get a lot of benefit by settling it under the Scheme. Hence, they should make use of it, he said. The Commissionerate of Central Excise and GST had organised the meeting jointly with the Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Coimbatore, and the Coimbatore chapters of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India, Institute of Company Secretaries of India, and the Institute of Cost Accountants of India.
