How will the tax on dividend play out when a company declares dividend before March 31, but shareholders receive the money on or after April 1? The law has left a gap for overzealous tax officers to interpret it in a way where both the company and shareholders are asked to fork out tax.

There are 88,000 appeals pending before the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) and efforts are being made for their speedy disposal, its chairman said on Wednesday.

Of the total appeals, 24,000 are pending before the Delhi bench followed by Mumbai bench (15000-16000), ITAT Chairman Justice PP Bhatt told reporters here.

Indian jewellers have received surprise tax notices asking them to turn over money they made from customers who scrambled to buy gold after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s 2016 ban on high-currency notes, according to a dozen jewellers and tax officials.

India is pushing for a major change at Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) on methodology at determining taxability in every jurisdiction hoping to tap a larger share of tax from multinationals such as Google, Facebook, Amazon and Netflix.

Many companies and foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) are expected to find themselves in each other’s crosshairs over the issue of taxing dividend.

The onus is on companies to tax dividends of their investors before the pay-out. The question is at what rate should the FPIs be taxed — should they be taxed as per India’s tax treaties with the countries they are based at, or as per the domestic tax rates.

About 70-80% of the direct tax disputes – nearly 5 lakh involving tax demands of Rs 9.5 lakh crore at last count and piling up – may get resolved in one stroke, as the government has decided to move the Supreme Court, pleading for definitive rulings on 20 issues identified by the tax department as being at the heart of these disputes, revenue secretary Ajay Bhushan Pandey said on Monday. He also said that even though the lenient 15% corporate tax rate for new manufacturing units was for a limited window (till FY23-end), the government was taking efficient steps to widen the tax base, which could facilitate further pruning of various tax rates including those for corporate and dividend incomes, in the coming years.

Salaried people can choose either of the two income tax regimes at the time of filing their returns irrespective of the choice they have given to the employer at the beginning of the financial year, a senior government official said.

The CBDT has decided to honour the best income tax department investigator, revenue collector and innovator among others working in the recently launched e-assessment scheme. As per an order issued on February 20 by the policy-making body of the department, there will be five categories of honours on a monthly and yearly basis and the winning tax personnel will be honoured on ‘Income Tax Day’ celebrated in July every year.

E-commerce companies have sought more time to implement a government proposal to levy a new tax, although they have, in principle, agreed to its imposition.

The ecommerce entities, including Amazon.com and Walmart-owned homegrown etailer Flipkart, have said they need time to upgrade IT systems in order to enable them to collect the 1% tax deduction at source (TDS) from sellers, a senior government official said.

European Union finance ministers added Panama, the Seychelles, the Cayman Islands, and Palau to the EU’s blacklist of tax havens while giving Turkey more time to avoid being listed, an EU document said on Tuesday. The list, which was set up in 2017 after revelations of widespread tax evasion and avoidance schemes, now includes 12 jurisdictions.

The Madras High Court in a recent order has opined that the faceless tax-assessment system “can lead to erroneous assessment, if officers are not able to understand the transactions and statement of accounts of an assessee without a personal hearing”.

Multinational companies in India have reached out to their tax advisers seeking to know the exact tax payable on dividends under existing tax treaties and if the status of most favoured nation would lead to additional benefits.

Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday said that the government was considering suggestions received on taxation liability imposed on unit holders of REITS and InvITs after the Budget reverted to the classical system of taxing dividend in the hands of recipient. She was speaking at a post-Budget session with industry representatives in Bengaluru.

Taxpayers availing of the Vivaad Se Vishwas Scheme will have to pay only half of the disputed amount in cases where the income tax department has filed an appeal, as per recent amendments to the Direct Tax Vivad Se Vishwas Bill that were cleared by the Cabinet.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Sunday said the idea behind introducing second alternative tax slabs sans exemptions is to take the country towards “a simplified, exemption-free and reduced rate of tax regime.”

Given the time constraints, the finance ministry is fine-tuning rules to make the Vivad se Vishwas scheme accommodative for those declaring money involved in disputes and paying tax on them over just a fortnight in March.

India is examining whether a carveout can be provided to real estate and infrastructure investment trusts (REITs, InvITs) under the proposed regime for taxation of dividends.

The budget proposes to scrap dividend distribution tax (DDT) and shift the taxation of such payouts to recipients.

To maximise revenue mobilisation via the direct tax ‘Vivad Se Vishwas’ scheme, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has made tax officers’ performance under the scheme a vital criterion for their annual appraisals for 2019-20 and future postings. “Details of the number of disputed cases, amount involved in disputed cases as well the number of cases resolved and the amount collected under the scheme may be reported in the self-appraisal,” CBDT said. The performance of officers in respect of the scheme “will be specifically commented upon by the reporting and the reviewing officers and shall be an important factor in determining their future postings,” the tax board said in an office memorandum.

The income tax (I-T) department has notified forms for companies to avail the reduced corporate tax rates that were announced in September last year.

The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has notified Forms 10-IC and 10-ID for existing companies that want to avail lower I-T rate and new manufacturing firms, respectively.

From sending emails to tax assesses locked in a dispute with the tax authorities to setting up outreach programmes targeted at the trading community, chartered accountants and the like, the income tax department has made elaborate plans on how to implement the Vivadse-Vishwas scheme, people in the know told ET.