Direct Tax Vivad se Vishwas scheme, 2024 deadline extended to 31st January 2025

Direct Tax Vivad se Vishwas scheme 2024:

The central Board of Direct Tax (CBDT) has extended the direct tax Vivad se Vishwas scheme deadline from 31^st December 2024 to 31^st January 2025 via Circular No.20/2024.

From 1^st February 2025 extra 10% tax will be payable on applying for Vivad se Vishwas scheme 2024.

Taxpayers who file declaration on or before 31^st January 2025 will get the benefit wherein amount payable will be determined as per column (3) of the table specified in section 90 of the scheme and not as per column (4). For better understanding column (3) and column (4) is stated below:

Sr. No.	Nature of Tax Arrears	Before 31/01/2025 (Column 3)	After 31/01/2025 (column 4)
1	Tax arrears include disputed tax, interest, penalty (New appellant)	100% of disputed tax	110% of disputed tax
2	Tax arrears include disputed tax, interest, penalty (Old appellant)	110% of disputed tax	120% of disputed tax
3	Tax arrears related to disputed interest/penalty/fee (New appellant)	25% of disputed interest/penalty/fee	30% of disputed interest/penalty/fee
4	Tax arrears related to disputed interest/penalty/fee (Old appellant)	30% of disputed interest/penalty/fee	35% of disputed interest/penalty/fee

Key Forms under Vivad se Vishwas Scheme are:

Form-1: The declaration form through which taxpayers express their intent to settle disputes under the VSV Scheme.

Form-2: A “Certificate of Settlement” issued by the Income-tax Department upon receipt of Form-1 and successful payment by the taxpayer.

Timeline for VSV scheme:

Taxpayers can file Form 1 declaration for settlement of dispute till 31 Jan 2025. However, this extension is not for those cases where Form 2 has been issued where Form 1 has been already filed by the taxpayer. Payment of disputed tax needs to be made within 15 days from the date of receipt of Form 2.

CBDT has already issued 2 sets of FAQs (last on 16^th December) to resolve certain ambiguities in the provisions of VSV for better understanding of taxpayers.