Overview
- The industry body submitted a memorandum for Budget 2026-27 seeking a trust- and technology-based compliance architecture across taxes, citing more than five lakh pending appeals involving about Rs 18 lakh crore.
- It urged time-bound resolution of disputes above Rs 100 crore within one year with multiple virtual hearings, close CBDT oversight, suspension of parallel penalty proceedings, and draft orders shared for factual verification.
- The submission called for rationalising the TDS/TCS regime to two or three broad categories, exempting transactions between GST-registered entities, and clarifying that the GST component of composite payments is not subject to TDS.
- CII proposed a Paper-Free Customs roadmap by 2028 with e-refunds, e-adjudication and e-appeals, consolidation of tariff and exemption notifications, single consolidated appeals on common issues, and automatic release of bonds once export obligations are met.
- To strengthen predictability and taxpayer rights, it sought revival of the AAR as an independent body issuing binding rulings within six months, a statutory taxpayer rights charter with time-bound refunds and faceless processes, decriminalisation of minor non-wilful offences, a multi-year corporate tax roadmap, and fixes to CPC return-processing protocols.