Centre to get over ~39,500 crore under Sabka Vishwas Scheme

The government is expected to realise ~39,500 crore from the Sabka Vishwas Scheme, a dispute resolution-cumamnesty scheme for settling pending disputes of service tax and central excise, according to sources.

This will act as a big booster for the government, which is staring at revenue shortage from both direct and indirect taxes.

Nearly 190,000 applications involving duties of about ~90,000 crore were filed during the amnesty window which closed on January 15, sources said.

The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) closed the Sabka Vishwas (Legacy Dispute Resolution) Scheme with duty payable being ~39,591.91 crore (~24,770.61 crore pre-deposit and ~14,821.30 crore freshly payable), the sources said adding that out of this, ~1,855.10 is already paid.

Total 1,89,215 applications involving a total duty of ~89,823.32 crore were filed, one of the sources said.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had unveiled the Sabka Vishwas (Legacy

Dispute Resolution) Scheme, 2019, in the Budget 2019-20 with the objective of settling pending disputes of service tax and central excise.

The Sabka Vishwas Scheme, which became operational on September 1, 2019, provides a one-time window to eligible persons to declare their tax dues and pay the same in accordance with the provisions.

According to the finance ministry, a total of ~3.6 trillion is locked up in 1.83 lakh cases at various quasi-judicial, appellate and judicial forums under service tax and central excise put together.

The introduction of the goods and services tax regime, which has subsumed these legacy taxes, has given an opportunity to the government and also to taxpayers to settle these cases.

Under this scheme, relief is to the tune of 70 per cent of the duty involved if it is ~50 lakh or less, and that of 50 per cent if it is more than ~50 lakh.

This scheme was for cases pending in adjudication or appeal or in investigation and audit in latter cases, the duty involved must be quantified and communicated or admitted by the taxpayer in a statement on or before June 30, 2019.