Preface

Jai Shree Krishna

It gives us immense pleasure in presenting a book concerning Dispute Resolution with respect to pre-GST taxes such as Central Excise, Service tax and some other taxes subsumed in GST. The Government has unveiled an Amnesty-cum-Dispute Resolution Scheme by the name "Sabka Vishwas (Legacy Disputes Resolution) Scheme, 2019" to resolve central excise and service tax disputes pertaining to the period prior to introduction of GST, to clear the backlog of cases and improve the ease of doing business, an area that concerns the Government because of huge pending litigations from the pre-GST regime. More than Rs. 3.75 lakh crores is said to be blocked in litigations under service tax, excise matters and some other taxes covered in the Scheme.  This also includes certain enactments not subsumed through the basic design of GST. The new Legacy Dispute Resolution Scheme will allow quick closure of these litigations, it is so believed.

The Finance Minister in her Budget Speech had urged the trade and business to avail of this opportunity and get free from the burden of legacy litigations. The Scheme is certainly a bold endeavour to unload the baggage relating to legacy taxes viz., central excise and service tax that have been subsumed under GST and allow business to make a new beginning, and focus on GST. It is a great opportunity and perhaps may not come back if missed this time. The Scheme is open from 1-9-2019 and is to close on 31-12-2019. It is expected that trade and businesses would like to avail of this and enjoy the benefits forever thereafter.

The Part-I of the book is a comprehensive and complete guide to the new Amnesty-cum-Dispute Resolution Scheme and offers in-depth, topical commentary arranged in nine chapters, explaining each provision of the Scheme in a user friendly manner. The Part-II of the book provides the source material containing each and every legal and procedural material that has been released w.r.t. the Scheme so far by the Central Government or the CBIC. We have tried to capture even the minutest aspects of the Scheme on which there may be some scope of confusion. For clear appreciation of the Scheme we have further added two more Parts, i.e., Part-III and Part-IV incorporating live case studies from Pre GST taxes like Central Excise and Service Tax (Part-III) and case studies from other Central Acts (Part-IV). All efforts have been made to incorporate all types of cases under eligible and non-eligible categories.

The Scheme is no doubt a good offer under which the Trade and Government both may have win-win situation. The Government is looking serious in making this Scheme a grand success. Hence we have also worked in presenting this book with the aim to help both Trade/businesses as well as the Government in attaining the desired results of the Scheme.

The authors with vast experience in taxation field academically and practically could elaborate on each topic with detailed analysis. Suitable examples and illustrations have been incorporated throughout the book for the guidance of taxpayers. The book is complete in all respects and incorporates all the notifications, clarifications, etc., issued by the Government and the CBIC since launch of the Scheme to the latest ones. It is also perhaps the first complete such book within a single cover.

We hope the book shall prove to be a very useful source of information, guidance and reference to trade and industry, business houses, practicing professionals, advocates, consultants, Judges, Government officials and departments, etc.

It is likely that some assessees may disregard this Scheme for the time being under impression that the closure date may further be extended beyond 31-12-2019 which may so happen considering style of functioning of this Central Government which may not let this Scheme become a failure.

Suggestions and criticisms on the book in the right spirit shall help us in improving our future publication.

DIWALI	Dr. AVADHESH OJHA
27 OCTOBER, 2019	CA. AJAY JOSHI