CBDT issues norms for compounding of offences under I-T Act

New Delhi [India], September 17 : The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has issued revised guidelines with regards to the compounding of offences under the Income Tax Act, 1961, in conformity with the government's policy of facilitating Ease of Doing Business and decriminalisation of offences.
The CBDT issued the guidelines dated September 16 with reference to various offences covered under the prosecution provisions of the Act, according to an official statement released by the Ministry of Finance on Saturday.
Some of the major changes made for the benefit of taxpayers include making offences punishable under Section 276 of the Act as compoundable.
Further, the scope of eligibility for compounding of cases has been relaxed whereby the case of an applicant who has been convicted with imprisonment for less than two years being previously non-compoundable, has now been made compoundable.
The discretion available with the competent authority has also been suitably restricted.
The time limit for acceptance of compounding applications has been relaxed from the earlier limit of 24 months to 36 months now, from the date of filing of the complaint. Procedural complexities have also been reduced/simplified.
Specific upper limits have been introduced for the compounding fee covering defaults across several provisions of the Act. Additional compounding charges in the nature of penal interest @ 2 per cent per month up to 3 months and 3 per cent per month beyond 3 months have been reduced to 1 per cent and 2 per cent, respectively.