THE Prime Minister has approved the constitution of an Expert
Committee on GAAR to undertake stakeholder consultations and finalise
the guidelines for GAAR. This committee would manage the consultation process
and finalise the draft GAAR Guidelines.
While postponing GAAR by one
year to 2013 was a very welcome move, a widespread consultative process is
necessary to generate a discussion on GAAR provisions so that there is an
informed debate on how GAAR is going to operate. Some steps have been taken in
this direction:
a) Department of Revenue undertook some consultations
with stakeholders before finalising a first draft set of guidelines. This
consultation was done by invitation.
b) Subsequently, at PM`s behest,
D/o Revenue put the draft guidelines on the web. This was widely welcomed as it
lifted the veil on the GAAR Guidelines.
The Prime Minister has
constituted this Expert Committee which will bring transparency and a high
degree of technical expertise to the consultation process.
For this
purpose, an Expert Committee on GAAR has been constituted consisting of:
1) Dr. Parthasarathi Shome - Chairman
2) Shri N. Rangachary,
former Chairman, IRDA - Member
3) Dr. Ajay Shah, Professor, NIPFP -
Member
4) Shri Sunil Gupta, Joint Secretary, Tax Policy &
Legislation, Department of Revenue - Member
The Terms of Reference of
the Committee will be to:
i) Receive comments from stakeholders and the
general public on the draft GAAR guidelines which have been published by the
Government on its website.
ii) Vet and rework the guidelines based on
this feedback and publish the second draft of the GAAR guidelines for comments
and consultations.
iii) Undertake widespread consultations on the second
draft GAAR guidelines
iv) Finalise the GAAR guidelines and a roadmap for
implementation and submit these to the government.
The Committee will
work to the following time schedule:
i) Receive comments from
stakeholders and general public till end-July 2012
ii)
Vet and rework the guidelines based on this feedback and publish the second
draft GAAR guidelines by 31 August 2012
iii) Finalise
the GAAR guidelines and a roadmap for implementation and submit these to the
government by 30 September 2012.
The Department of
Revenue will provide all necessary support to the Expert Committee to facilitate
its work including office assistance and assistance to facilitate consultations.
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