TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2019 (8) TMI 1547
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....A No.35/Jab/18, ITA No.41/Jab/18, ITA No.41/Jab/18, ITA No.110, 112/Jab/18, IT(SS)A No.13/Jab/17, ITA No.190 to 192/Jab/18, C.O.No.15 to 17/Jab/17 [in ITA No.190 to 192/Jab/18], ITA No.195/Jab/18, ITA No.198/Jab/18, ITA No.212/Jab/18, ITA No.222/Jab/18, C.O.No.24/Jab/18 [In ITA No.222/Jab/18], ITA No.225/Jab/18, C.O.No.25/Jab/18 [In ITA No.225/Jab/18], ITA No.226/Jab/18, C.O.No.26/Jab/18 [In ITA No.226/Jab/18], ITA No.227/Jab/18, C.O.No.27/Jab/18 [In ITA No.227/Jab/18], ITA No.228/Jab/18, C.O.No.28/Jab/18 [In ITA No.228/Jab/18], ITA No.229-231/Jab/18, ITA No.232/Jab/18, ITA No.233/Jab/18, ITA No.243-24/Jab/18, ITA No.245/Jab/18, ITA No.246/Jab/18, C.O.No.3/Jab/19 [In ITA No.246/Jab/18], ITA No.247/Jab/18, ITA No.248/Jab/18, C.O.No.1/Jab/19 [In ITA No.248/Jab/18], ITA No.250/Jab/18, C.O.No.2/Jab/19 [In ITA No.250/Jab/18], ITA No.252/Jab/18, IT(SS)A No.11-13/Jab/18, IT(SS)A No.16/Jab/18, IT(SS)A No.27/Jab/18, IT(SS)A No.31/Jab/18, IT(SS)A No.32/Jab/18, ITA No.01/Jab/19, ITA No.6 to 8/Jab/19, IT(SS)A No.6- 7/Jab/19, ITA No.32/Jab/19, ITA No.33/Jab/19, C.O.No.5/Jab/19 [In ITA No.33/Jab/19], ITA No.35/Jab/19, ITA No.42/Jab/19, ITA No.44/Jab/19, ITA No.45/Jab/19, ITA No.46/Jab/19, ITA No....
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.... dispensed with; notices of hearing are given only through the notice board. 2. It is in this backdrop that we are pleased to take note of a very pragmatic and taxpayer friendly policy decision by the Government of India for reducing the income tax litigation. Vide CBDT circular dated 8th August, 2019, the income tax department has further liberalized its policy for not filing appeals against the decisions of the appellate authorities in favour of the taxpayers, wherein tax involved is below certain threshold limits, and announced its policy decision not to file, or press, the appeals, before this Tribunal, against the appellate orders favourable to the assessee in the cases in which overall tax effect, excluding interest- except when interest itself is in dispute, is Rs. 50,00,000 or less. What it means, in plain words, is that when a Commissioner (Appeals) gives the taxpayer tax relief of upto Rs. 50 lakhs in an appeal in an assessment year, the matter ends there and the relief so granted by the Commissioner (Appeals) cannot be challenged before this Tribunal, that when this Tribunal gives the taxpayer relief of upto Rs. 1 crore in an appeal in an assessment year, the matter en....
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....to have any specific instructions on the issue and she leaves it for the bench to take the appropriate call. Learned representatives appearing for the taxpayers vehemently oppose the suggestion implicit in her submissions. All of them are unanimous in their argument that the circular must be held to have retrospective application and must equally apply to the pending appeals as well. Shri J P Shah, Senior Advocate, points out that the circular dated 8th August 2019 is not a standalone circular and it is required to be read with the old circular no. 3 of 2018 which is what it seeks to modify. This circular, according to the learned counsel, only enhances the monetary limits and gives further relaxation. He urges us not to read the circular in a manner so as to nullify the underlying approach and object of reducing litigation. Shri Soparkar, learned Senior Advocate, submits that all that the present circular does is to modify the monetary limits and nothing more, and, therefore, it cannot be treated to follow any other approach other than the approach followed in the old circular. The old circular, beyond any dispute or controversy, categorically applied to the pending appeals as on ....
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....018 (and subsequent amendment thereto), and all it does is to replace paragraph nos. 3 and 5 of the said circular. This is evident from the following extracts from the circular dated 8thAugust 2019: 2. As a step towards further management of litigation. it has been decided by the Board that monetary limits for filing of appeals in income-tax cases be enhanced further through amendment in Para 3 of the Circular mentioned above and accordingly. the table for monetary limits specified in Para 3 of the Circular shall read as follows: S.No. Appeals/SLPs in Income-tax matters Monetary Limit (Rs.) 1 Before Appellate Tribunal 50,00,000 2 Before High Court 1,00,00,000 3 Before Supreme Court 2,00,00,000 3. Further, with a view to provide parity in filing of appeals in scenarios where separate order is passed by higher appellate authorities for each assessment year vis-a-vis where composite order for more than one assessment years is passed. para 5 of the circular is substituted by the following para: "5. The Assessing Officer shall calculate the tax effect separately for every assessment year in respect of the disputed issues in the case of every assessee. If in the case of....