Bombay High Court Directs Dept. To Issue A Fresh Form-3 Under DTVSV After Giving Credit Of The Amount Paid Under The IDS

The Bombay High Court has held that the money lying in the corpus of the revenue had simply to be adjusted by way of a mathematical exercise and benefit accorded to the petitioner under the Direct Tax Vivad Se Vishwas Act, 2020 (DTVSV).

The bench of Justice Dhiraj Singh Thakur and Justice Kamal Khata directed the department to issue a fresh Form-3 after giving the petitioner credit for the amount paid under the Income Declaration Scheme, 2016 (IDS) and the balance amount.

An IDS was introduced by Chapter IX of the Finance Act, 2016, which envisaged granting an opportunity to persons to come forward and declare their undisclosed income and pay the applicable tax, surcharge, and penalty on the income so disclosed. The scheme also provided a declarant, among others, immunity from prosecution. The petitioner, with a view to seeking benefits under the IDS, filled up Form-1, dated September 30, 2016, for the relevant year and disclosed an undisclosed income of Rs. 15,50,000.

The petitioner, considering himself eligible, applied under the said DTVSV Act and submitted Forms 1 and 2 on March 22, 2020, declaring a disputed income of Rs. 15,50,500.

The petitioner stated that while the liability of the petitioner was correctly worked out at Rs. 6,97,500, credit was not given for the taxes paid, which were addressed to the Principal Commissioner of Income Tax, Pune, with a request for rectification in Form-3.

The petitioner, considering himself eligible, applied under the said DTVSV Act and submitted Forms 1 and 2 on March 22, 2020, declaring a disputed income of Rs. 15,50,500.

The petitioner states that his request failed to elicit any response from the respondents.

The department contended that the DTVSV Act nowhere envisages that an amount that was lying with the department be taken into consideration while determining tax payable under the DTVSV Act.

The court held that if an amount of Rs. 3,48,752, which was deposited and was lying with the respondents in terms of the IDS, were to be adjusted against the revised Form-3 under the Scheme of the DTVSV Act, then the petitioner’s claim under the said Scheme could not be rejected.

Case Title: Sunil Wamanrao Sakore Versus Union Of India

Case No.: Writ Petition No. 4119 Of 2022

Citation: 2023 LiveLaw (Bom) 241

Date: 04/05/2023

Counsel For Petitioner: Sanket Bora

Counsel For Respondent: Suresh Kumar

Click Here To Read The Order