Shah panel meet on MAT soon; notices for hearing 'routine'

The Justice Shah committee formed to unravel the minimum alternate tax row (MAT) is expected to meet either today or tomorrow, sources have told CNBC-TV18.

This even as newspaper reports recently claimed the Dispute Resolution Panel (DRP) of the Income Tax Department had issued some foreign portfolio investors (FPI) in the matter, which added to confusion whether the MAT cases had been put on hold after the Shah panel’s formation.

But sources termed the government decision to issue the notices for a hearing a ‘routine’ matter, saying some FPIs had themselves approached the DRP earlier to solve the MAT row, and that it was bound to conduct hearings for the same.

The decision to set up the three-member Shah panel was announced by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley to solve the MAT issue, in which FPIs were asked to pay tax on their investment gains over the past several years.