The decision by the Central Board of Revenue to resolve disputes over the question of actual liabilities of excise duty which are payable by 10 principal industries through dispute resolution committees, will be seen as a welcome approach. This would definitely pave the way to break an impasse in so far as the payment of disputed excise duty liabilities are concerned.
The decision was notified through an SRO which effected necessary amendments in the existing excise regime rules in to spell out procedures for the constitution of a dispute resolution committee.
The notification has also offered to the parties concerned to file an appeal under the law if they do not feel satisfied with the decision of the dispute resolution committee. An aggrieved company operating under the excise duty rules may make a written application to the Central Board of Revenue showing willingness to resolve its dispute over excise duty liabilities through alternative dispute resolution mechanism which has been successfully adopted in sales tax disputes.
At the same time the same mechanism has been extended to disputes in respect of payments of import duty by importers.
The disputes with the customs authorities on this account would henceforth be resolved through the aforesaid mechanism for which the CBR has recently announced the formation of 10 committees for different regions.
The excise-related industries which have been offered the option of alternative dispute mechanism include beverages, beverage concentrates, cigarettes, natural gas, POL products, soap and detergents, perfumery and cosmetics, cement, importer of raw sugar and insurance service.
These sectors are undoubtedly known for heavy payments of excise duty to the government. In case they frequently challenge the CBR on its assessment of their excise duty liabilities, this will result in large scale withheld payments pending verdicts on their appeals either from a court of law or the appellate tribunals of the CBR.
Such stalemates have been found to be a common feature specially in the case of excise duty with the result that the CBR faced long delays in recovering the disputed excise duty payments from these parties.
The recourse to alternative dispute resolution mechanism could be described as an innovative and practicable method to overcome the perpetuated tension between the parties concerned or the officials of the CBR.
As per the procedures, the CBR would appoint a dispute resolution committee which would consist of an equal number of revenue officials and the representatives of the aggrieved company while the chairman of the committee will be an outsider belonging to specialised professions such as the chartered accountants.
The chairman would lay down the procedures for the deliberation of the committee. In this connection he may also demand additional information and data from the aggrieved parties. After examining the details submitted by both the sides namely, the officials concerned and the aggrieved party, chairman would write his own judgement over the dispute.
The dispute would have to be completed by the committee within a period as prescribed by the CBR. An appreciable feature of this mechanism is that the CBR would accept the judgement of the committee over the dispute and accordingly the parties concerned would also comply with the final decision of the committee. Lastly the aggrieved parties have been given the freedom to go for appeal if they are not satisfied with the committee's decision.
According to the notification the CBR has given standing instructions to the tax collectorates in each region to entertain applications from the aggrieved parties showing their willingness to share their figures with the taxation authorities through the mechanism of dispute resolution committees. Thus an open option will now be available to the business community in general to resolve their grievances in different cases of taxation liabilities such as income tax refunds, sales tax, customs duty and excise duty.
There is no reason why the taxpayers should not co-operate with the CBR in the resolution of their long-standing grievances or disputes in order to save themselves from the harassment tactics of individual taxation officials who are in the habit of taking undue advantage of a tax dispute and quite often offer to cover up the disputed tax liability if they are not favoured with illegal gratification by the parties concerned.
The dispute resolution mechanism also provides for a friendly approach between the taxation officials and the taxpayers through the presence of an impartial chairman of the committee.