British oil explorer Cairn Energy plc has also initiated a similar move over Rs 10,247 crore tax liability due to the same reason. The basic tax demand for Vodafone was Rs 7,990 crore but the total outstanding, including interest and penalty, is estimated to have risen to Rs 20,000 crore.
With regard to black money law, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) chairperson said that it was intended to be harsh because we were addressing a problem which the normal law was not able to address for so many years.
The apex policy-making body of the I-T department is actively working to ensure that this customer-friendly measure can be launched for taxpayers from the next financial year.
The top boss of the I-T department said the Board is constantly trying to strengthen its information systems in both the domestic and international arena in order to create the “capacity to catch hold of such people who are spoiling country‘s tax compliance culture.â€
The CBDT is working to create an atmosphere where a taxpayer's life becomes so "easy" that they are never compelled to visit an I-T department office and the hassle in paying taxes is "eliminated totally", its chief has said.
Seeking to send a stern message to chronic evaders, the Income Tax department plans to take stringent action against them to ensure that they are prosecuted.
"This has gone to Court process. We have a provisional attachment order. We will ensure that we remain secure, whatever position changes we will ensure our security. We are certainly keeping watch on it," CBDT Chairperson Anita Kapur told reporters here.
The Income Tax Department should adopt a responsive taxpayer-centric regime and focus on dealing with the menace of both domestic as well as overseas black money, Revenue Secretary Shaktikanta Das has said.
A day after the finance minister announced that a new panel under justice Shah will be set up to look into the interpretation of all direct taxes, CBDT chairperson Anita Kapur has said that the government will not take any coercive action on the various MAT notices issued to FIIs.
CBDT has called for according a "top priority" to addressing taxpayers' grievances by the Income Tax department after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed his disappointment about delays in corrective action and harassment of the assesses by tax officials.
The Minimum Alternative Tax was originally brought into play to bring into the tax net large domestic corporate who did not pay taxes by making use of various incentive schemes.
Kapur, a 1978-batch officer of the Income Tax cadre, was till now serving as Member (Legislation and Computerisation and Income Tax) in the CBDT.