Context: Recently, Income Tax Appellate Tribunal recently held the All India Video Conference on ‘The Direct Tax Vivad Se Vishwas Act, 2020’. As part of the Video conference, a key emphasis was laid down on the need of stakeholders’ participation in the Alternative Dispute Resolution Mechanism to create a dispute-free tax collection system.
About Income Tax Appellate Tribunal

• It was set up on 25 January 1941, and it was the first experiment in tribunalization in the history of India. 
• It is second appellate authority under the direct taxes and first independent forum in its appellate hierarchy.
• The orders passed by the ITAT can be subjected to appellate challenge, on substantial questions of law, before the respective High Court.
• It functions under the Department of Legal Affairs in the Ministry of Law and Justice, and is kept away from any kind of control by the Ministry of Finance.
• The appeals before the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal are generally heard by a division bench- consisting of one judicial member and one accountant member.
• In cases involving assessed income of less than Rs15 lakh (US$21,000), however, any one Member, though with a work experience of minimum five years in the Tribunal, can decide the appeals in a single member bench as well.
• Monetary limit for deciding an appeal by a single member Bench of ITAT enhanced from Rs15 lakh (US$21,000) to Rs50 lakh (US$70,000) in 2016 Union budget of India.
• In case of conflict of opinions by the division benches on the issues involved in an appeal, the appeals are sometimes heard by the special benches consisting of three of more members- at least one of which must be a judicial member and at least one of which must be an accountant member.

About Vivad se Vishwas Scheme

• It is an attempt by the Government of India (GoI) to put an end to pending direct tax disputes. The benefit under the Scheme is maximised if taxpayers avail it before 1 April 2020, though the Scheme is likely to be available till 30 June 2020.
• The Scheme is likely to cater to all the taxpayers having income tax disputes in India.
• Depending on the contours of the pending dispute, a proportion of the total tax, interest and penalty demanded, needs to be paid under the Scheme for settlement.