New Threshold Limit for Tax Cases involving Foreign Black Money
The newly revised threshold monetary limits for the department to file appeals at various levels — appellate tribunals, High Courts and the Supreme Court will not be applied in cases where foreign black money is involved, said the tax department recently.
As per a CBDT missive, cases involving undisclosed foreign income and undisclosed financial assets; additions based on information received from enforcement agencies such as CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation), Enforcement Directorate (ED), and SFIO (Serious Fraud Investigation Office); and cases where prosecution has been filed by the Department and is pending in the Court are out of the ambit of the new threshold limits.
The Government, in June this year decided to increase the threshold monetary limits for filing appeals with the objective to reduce the number of pending tax litigations at different levels.
The threshold for filing an appeal at Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) and The Customs, Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal (CESTAT) has been increased from Rs 10 lakh to Rs 20 lakh, for High Courts, the limit has been increased from Rs 20 lakh to Rs 50 lakh and in case of Supreme Court the limit has been increased four-fold to Rs one crore.
However, the earlier announcement came with a clause, which said that the threshold “will not apply in cases where substantial point of law is involved”. This clause has been put in the circular to guard revenue interests.
