The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) has always supported various initiatives & schemes launched by the Government for the benefit of stakeholders & public at large. In its endeavour to reach to maximum number of Chartered Accountants & clear their doubts, ICAI through its Direct Taxes Committee organised a Live Webcast on “The Direct Tax - Vivad se Vishwas Bill, 2020” on March 16, 2020 at ICAI Head Office , New Delhi.

The 'Vivad se Vishwas' Scheme aims at dispute resolution in order to reduce pending litigation, generate revenue for the Government and benefit taxpayers. Over the years, the pendency of appeals filed by taxpayers as well as Government has increased due to the fact that the number of appeals that are filed is much higher than the number of appeals that are disposed.

The webcast was addressed by Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman, Hon’ble Union Minister of Finance , Corporate Affairs ; Shri Piyush Goyal, Hon’ble Union Minister of Railways, Commerce & Industry and experts from Central Council of the Institute. The webcast was viewed by over 41, 000 Chartered Accountants from across the globe.

While addressing the viewers, Shri Piyush Goyal, Hon’ble Union Minister of Railways, Commerce & Industry said “ On behalf of Chartered Accountancy profession, the Council of ICAI representing over 3.15 lakh CAs across the country, have committed themselves to take the message of this Scheme to all assesses, to explain the various provisions and benefits of this Scheme to the various litigants. The entire CA profession would fully support to get as much of litigation completed.” The Hon’ble Minister further added “This Scheme would help to significantly get the entire business and taxpaying community, free of litigation in a very big way.”

CA. Atul Kumar Gupta, President, ICAI welcomed the dignitaries and added “Chartered Accountants have shown commitment towards each and every reform in the country whether it is GST, IDS or any of the schemes launched by the Government.” ICAI has 164 branches and 34 chapters and each and every branch is available to serve the nation.

This scheme is a bold endeavour to unload the baggage relating to the pending cases of Direct Taxes and to allow the taxpayers to deploy the time, energy and resources saved by opting for such dispute resolution towards their business activities.

Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman, Hon’ble Minister of Finance & Corporate Affairs acknowledged the commitment of entire CA profession. The Hon’ble Minister reiterated the word of Prime Minister of India “CAs can play as an effective change maker, effective catalyst in literally catapulting India to a very high place because all nature of activities- production / manufacture / servicing / hospitality etc., need guidance of the Chartered Accountants.”

Hon’ble Minister further added “CAs play a critical role, critical advisory role and also critical post advisory & certifying role. Chartered Accountants are actually carrying the authority of the sovereign Government in some ways and therefore at every stage, business should be guided by CAs good council.”

Hon’ble Finance Minister shared “Through this webcast, the CAs have gathered in large numbers from India and abroad and this shows their commitment to work with the Government. I am extremely grateful for the role CAs play in making sure that businesses are better managed and we have greater transparent mechanism through which the confidence of investors will also improve and will make India a better destination to invest.”

CA. Nihar N Jambusaria, Vice-President, ICAI delivered vote of thanks & shared that the Chartered Accountants with their true spirit as partner in nation building are committed to make this Scheme, a success.

The Direct Taxes Committee of ICAI headed by CA. Tarun Jamunadas Ghia & CA. Pramod Jain presented many suggestions to resolve many issues & ambiguities. The program turned out to be a great event and would go a long way in making the Bill a huge success.