Income Tax Settlement Commission (ITSC)
The Income Tax Settlement Commission (ITSC) is an important Alternate Disputes Resolution (ADR) mechanism for resolving tax disputes relating to Direct Taxes. At present, four benches of the Settlement Commission are operational at New Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai, respectively.
ITSC admits those cases where the additional tax (over and above returned income) is Rs 10 lakhs or more.
Procedure for Filing Settlement Application
- Settlement application is to be filed only in the prescribed Form No.34-B notified under the Income Tax Rules, 1962.
- The form has to be signed by the applicant himself.
- In order to be admitted by the Commission, full amount of tax is to be paid along with interest payable till the date of admission
- The application can be made personally or by post.
- In order to be admitted by the Commission, an application should be accompanied by the proof of payment of additional Tax (including interest under section 234A, 234B and 234C on it till the date of filing of application).
- The application is to be accompanied by a copy of self (-) attested challans and other documents as evidence in support of payment of tax and interest by the applicant.
- The settlement application shall be presented in person or by registered post to the Secretary or an authorised officer of the Bench within whose jurisdiction the case falls. A settlement application sent by post shall be deemed to have been presented on the day on which it is received in the office of the Commission.
- An authorized representative can also make application in person. An “authorised representative” means a person authorised by the applicant in writing to appear on his behalf, being:
- A person related to the applicant in any manner, or a person regularly employed by the applicant; or
- Any officer of a Scheduled Bank with which the applicant maintains a current account or have other regular dealings; or
- any legal practitioner who is entitled to practice in any civil court in India; or
- an accountant within the meaning of the Chartered Accountants Act, 1949 (38 of 1949), and includes, in relation to any State, any person who by virtue of the provisions of sub-section (2) of section 226 of the Companies Act, 1956 (1 of 1956), is entitled to be appointed to act as an auditor of companies registered in that State.
- Any person who has passed any accountancy examination recognised in this behalf by the Board, or
- any person who has acquired such educational qualifications as prescribed by the Board.
- In case there is any defect of the above nature, the application is returned to the applicant pointing out the defects, for re-submission after removing the same. If the application does not suffer from any of the defects mentioned above, the same is entered in the register and a distinctive file number (also called a registration No.) is allotted and the applicant is informed about it through letter. It is then closely scrutinised in accordance with the check-list devised for the purpose.
- If the application does not suffer from any of the defects mentioned above, the same is entered in the register and a distinctive file number (also called a registration No.) is allotted by the technical section of the concerned Bench of the Commission. The applicant is informed about it through letter.
Source: www.itscindia.gov.in