Section 245MA — the law in short
What the courts have decided on section 245MA, in one screen. Read this first; open an entry when you need the facts, the reasoning and the source.
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Statutory position — s.245MA and the e-Dispute Resolution Scheme, 2022: ten lakh rupees of variation, fifty lakh rupees of returned income, and a committee that can waive the penalty
CBDT Circulars & InstructionsCuts both waysNo later treatment found
The variation in my assessment order is about six lakh rupees and my returned income was thirty-eight lakh. Filing a first appeal will take years. Is there anything else I can do, and what do I lose if I go that way?
There is one alternative, and it is narrow. Section 245MA lets the Central Government constitute Dispute Resolution Committees for persons the Board specifies, who may opt for dispute resolution in respect of a dispute arising from any variation in a 'specified order' and who fulfil the 'specified conditions'. The Explanation fixes two numbers: the aggregate sum of variations proposed or made in the order must not exceed ten lakh rupees, and where a return has been filed for the relevant assessment year the total income as per that return must not exceed fifty lakh rupees. An order based on a search under section 132, a requisition under section 132A, a survey under section 133A, or information received under an agreement referred to in section 90 or section 90A is outside the definition altogether. The committee may reduce or waive a penalty imposable under the Act and grant immunity from prosecution. The application is in Form No. 34BC under rule 44DAB with a fee of one thousand rupees. The section itself says nothing about section 246A at all.
Listed strongest first: Supreme Court, then High Court, then Tribunal, then CBDT. Nothing here has yet been read in full by a chartered accountant — open an entry to see where it came from.
