CBDT names nodal officers to bring PSUs on board ‘Vivad se Vishwas’ scheme

Mumbai: The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has named three of its senior members as ‘nodal officers’ to work with various ministries and ensure that central and state public-sector undertakings come on board the Vivad se Vishwas tax amnesty scheme.

It has directed field officers to “escalate” the issue with these officers in the event a public-sector undertaking expresses reservation over settling tax disputes under the scheme.

“I am directed to request that the cases of CPSEs (CPSUs) refusing to sign the joint certification of disputed tax may be escalated to the member concerned as per the allocation of ministries. It is clarified that the joint certification of disputed tax can be signed by the CFOs or authorised representatives of CPSEs,” reads the directive, seen by ET.


On the appointment of the three senior CBDT members — Seema Patra, PK Dash and Prabhash Shankar — the circular dated February 26 states: “…they will act as nodal officers between the ministries allocated to them and the field formation for the purpose of facilitating filing of declaration by the CPSUs under the scheme and shall ensure the availability of relevant data regarding disputed demands”.

This is the latest in a series of the directives issued by the CBDT to ensure maximum participation in the tax amnesty scheme. In an earlier circular, the CBDT had informed its field officers that how they handled the scheme “shall be an essential factor in finalising their annual performance appraisal reports and shall be an important factor in determining their future posting”.

Setting such targets and conditions could make tax officials to become too aggressive while dealing with taxpayers, said an official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

“While it's good to be aggressive, these directives make the scheme look more of a compulsion that the disputed taxpayers should avail of, rather than it be voluntary,” the official said. “…by linking this to the appraisals and future postings of the field officers, you are only pushing them to go all out to make the taxpayers avail of the scheme. The approach will be aggressive rather than that of being a facilitator who is helping and guiding the taxpayers to settle the dispute.”

Mumbai, which contributes 37 per cent of the total direct tax collection, has lined up a list of 53 CPSUs and at least 45 Maharashtra state PSUs, said the people. In case of CPSUs, they said, the tax department had tabulated tax demands of more than Rs 1.57 lakh crore, with it getting over Rs 24,000 crore after settling the disputes in the partial amnesty scheme rolled out by the finance ministry.