Central Board of Direct Taxes calls for Talks to discuss IT exemption related issues

REPRESENTATIVES OF OLD BUSINESS COMMUNITY ALSO INVITED 
GANGTOK, 13 Feb: With pressure mounting on both the central and state governments as well as on the Income Tax authorities to take a decision on the demand to be included in the scheme of exemption from paying central income tax by the old settlers of the state of Sikkim the Central Board of Direct Taxes has decided to hold consultations with all stakeholders.
The meeting, it is informed, has been scheduled for 14 February. It had actually been scheduled for 16 February but has been preponed by a couple of days it is informed. The meeting will be held at the Income Tax office, Siliguri.
Along with officials of the CBDT also present will be Commissioner, IT, Siliguri, Income Tax Officials of Gangtok office; interestingly, also called for the meetings are some of the prominent individuals of the Old Settlers’ Community who have also been called for the consultations and to present their brief.
The main agenda of the talks, as decided by the CBDT, is to ascertain the ground situation in Sikkim as far as the income tax assessments is concerned, the various issues involved in the implementation of the Income Tax Act, 1961 as amended in the year 2008 with the inclusion of Clause 26AAA in Section 10 of the Act, granting exemption to ‘locals’ as defined in the section and non exemption for other people including the Old Business community of Sikkim.
More importantly the talks, as informed, are to include discussions and consultations on the various representations made by the old settlers’ community to the union government including the Prime Minister, Home Minister and particularly the Finance Minister seeking exemption from paying central income tax at par with the Sikkimese population. The Old Settlers’ Association has been making repeated representations to the central ministers as well as officials to include them, about 400 families, in the exempted category. On the other hand the Nagarik Sangarsh Samiti led by Prem Goyal has also been making repeated and continuous representations and petitioning not just central leaders but Parliamentary Committees as well to examine their demand for equal status. All these are to come up for discussions tomorrow, it is informed.
Not just the representations made by the organisations but also the letters and other communiqués of the state government to the centre on the issue. The latest was the letter of the Chief Minister to Finance Minister, Pranab Mukherjee seeking that all proceedings of the Income Tax authorities be kept in abeyance in light of the matter of exempting the old business community being under consideration.
Besides, the CBDT officials will also discuss and anaylse the implications and fall outs of agreeing to and granting the demands put up by the associations for exemption.