The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has notified to file applications before the Interim Board for Settlement for tax related settlements by September 30.

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The Finance Act, 2021 has amended the provisions of the Act to provide that the Income-tax Settlement Commission (lTSC) shall cease to operate with effect from February 01, 2021, the notification said.

"Further, it has also been provided that no application for settlement can be filed on or after February 01, 2021 that was the date on which the Finance Bill, 2021 was laid before the Lok Sabha," the notification further said.

To dispose-off the pending settlement applications as on January 31, 2021, the Central Government has constituted Interim Board for Settlement (hereinafter referred to as the Interim Board), dated August 10, 2021.

Meanwhile, in order to avoid genuine hardship to number of taxpayers who were in the advanced stages of filing their application for settlement before the ITSC as on February 01, 2021 and also due to the hardship faced during the COVID pandemic by the tax payers, the Central Board of Direct Taxes had provided relief thereby allowing assessees eligible to file application for settlement on January 31, 2021 to file such applications till the extended period of September 30, 2021.

In view of the above, the Board in exercise of its power under clause (b) of sub-section (2) of section 119 of the Income-tax Act, 1961 (the Act), in order to avoid genuine hardship to assessees authorises the Commissioner of Income-tax, posted as Secretary to the Settlement Commission prior to February 01, 2021, to admit an application for settlement on behalf of the Interim Board filed after January 31, 2021 ,which is the date mentioned in sub-section (5) of section 245C of the Act for filing such application, and before September 30, 2021 and treat such applications as valid and process them as ‘pending applications’ as defined in clause (eb) of section 245A of the Act.

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The above relaxation is available to the applications filed; (i) by the assessees who were eligible to file application for settlement on January 31, 2021 for the assessment years for which the application is sought to be filed (relevant assessment years); and (ij) where the relevant assessment proceedings of the assessee are pending as on the date of filing the application for settlement.