IT Dept withdraws 969 cases to reduce litigation

Hyderabad: Income-tax Department of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana region has withdrawn 969 appeals before Supreme Court, Andhra Pradesh High Court, High Court of Telangana and Income Tax Appellate Tribunal, as part of its drive to reduce litigation.

A press note issued by the office of the Principal Chief Commissioner of Income Tax informed that the cases were withdrawn in pursuance of Circular no 17/2019 issued by CBDT on August 8, 2019. The department will not contest cases with tax effect below Rs. 50 lakhs before ITAT, below Rs. 1 crore before High Court and below Rs. 2 crores before Supreme Court. They include 87 cases in Andhra Pradesh for the tax effect of Rs. 35 crore; 452 cases in Telangana High Court for Rs. 219 crore; 407 cases in ITAT for Rs. 119 crore and 23 cases in Supreme Court for Rs. 29 crore. Overall, as many as 969 cases have been withdrawn with a tax effect of Rs. 403 crore.

In F.Y. 2018-2019 also, the department withdrew 892 cases, of which 33 were cases before Supreme Court, 441 appeals before High Court and 418 appeals before ITAT. This action of the Department is meant to litigation as a friendly measure to the taxpayers.