GoI increases monetary threshold for filing appeals in tax disputes in courts and tribunals to bring down tax litigation in country

On July 12, the government sharply increased the monetary threshold for filing appeals in tax disputes in various courts and decided to withdraw many pending appeals to cut down litigation and improve ease of doing business. The new monetary threshold for filing appeals in tribunals handling income tax as well as customs, excise and service tax disputes has been doubled from Rs.10 lakh to Rs.20 lakh. In the case of high courts, the monetary threshold is now Rs.50 lakh instead of Rs.20 lakh earlier. In the Supreme Court, the threshold has been increased from Rs25 lakh to Rs 1 crore. This will bring down tax litigation by 37%.