Chairman`s Communication - The Chamber of Tax Consultants

Chairman's Communication
Dear Esteemed Readers,
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is not in a sense euphoric, but due to various decisions being taken by the Government on policy front
and certain economic data revealing slow pick-up in economy, there is indeed a hope slowly creeping
in to suggest a better year ahead and the said optimism is reflected in guidance issued by rating
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post general elections. Maybe the expectations that were built up in run-up to the general elections
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and sure albeit a bit slower than would be desired. To be fair, in a democratic governance set-up one
cannot expect the decision making to be off-hand and there has to be some delays that have to be
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of Companies Act were issued one gets a feeling that the concerns of businesses are being addressed.
The month of March each year has become a hectic one for tax professionals and the problem this year
was compounded, as far as income-tax assessments were concerned, due to restructuring that took
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for assessees and tax representatives. Hopefully, the current year would turn out to be better one.
Year after year the litigation under taxation law has been increasing manifold and the complexities are
adding to the same at an increased pace. There are certain measures, both within direct and indirect
tax regimes which can be effectively used to either avoid litigation or to mitigate the impact of the
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liabilities and another before determination of tax liabilities. While measures like Advance Rulings,
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measures like approaching the Settlement Commission would fall in another category. Of course, there
is also the mechanism of Ombudsman available under both the regimes for grievance redressals. In
this issue the special story tries to look at some of these avenues which one can effectively look into
in appropriate circumstances.
I would like to thank S/Shri Sunil Moti Lala, Paras S. Savla, Dharan V. Gandhi, Sanjay Parikh, Ajay
Singh, Rajesh Athavale, Waman Kale, Bhavesh Dedhia, Anjul Mota, Nishant Shah, Heetesh Veera,
Jayesh Gogri, Shailesh Sheth, Bharat Raichandani, Vishal Agrawal, Manya Bhardwaj, C.B. Thakar,
Kiran Garkar, Manish Gadia and Jinit R. Shah for sharing their knowledge for the benefit of the
readers. I would like to specially thank Shri Bakul Mody for structuring the Indirect taxes section of the
special story as also the editor Shri K. Gopal for his contribution in structuring the Direct tax section.
I am sure the articles in this special story shall give ideas to the readers for possible exploration of the
different avenues in appropriate circumstances.
CA. Sanjeev Lalan
Chairman – Journal Committee
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