Maharashtra Settlement of Arrears of Tax, Interest, Penalty or Late Fee Act, 2019.

Whereas, the Maharashtra Settlement of Arrears of Tax, Interest, Penalty or Late Fee Act, 2019 (Mah. XV of 2019) (hereinafter in this Order referred to as "the Settlement Act") provides for the settlement of the arrears of the tax, interest, penalty or late fee (hereinafter in this Order referred to as "settlement of arrears") under the Relevant Act ;

And whereas, for settlement of arrears, section 4 of the Settlement Act provides for the two Phases i.e. First Phase and Second Phase and also provides for the time limit within which the application for settlement of arrears shall be submitted and payment of the requisite amount shall be made ;

And whereas, the time limit under the First Phase for submission of application electronically and the payment of the requisite amount was upto the 31st July 2019 ;

And whereas, due to technical glitches in computer application of the State Tax Department, certain taxpayers were unable to submit the said application despite the payment being made in this behalf on or before the 31st July 2019 and certain taxpayers due to aforesaid reasons were also unable to submit such applications and make the payment of the requisite amount within the time limit given for the First Phase as referred in section 4 of the Settlement Act which has resulted into difficulties for giving effect to the provisions of the Settlement Act ;

And whereas, it is expedient to provide an opportunity to the aforesaid class of taxpayers, so as to enable them to submit the application and make the payment of the requisite amount under the Settlement Act for the First Phase by issuing Order under sub-section (1) of section 20 of the Settlement Act ;

Now, therefore, in exercise of the powers conferred by sub-section (1) of section 20 of the Settlement Act, for the removal of the aforesaid difficulties, the Government of Maharashtra hereby makes the following Order, namely :-

1. This Order may be called the Maharashtra Settlement of Arrears of Tax, Interest, Penalty or Late Fee (Removal of Difficulties) Order, 2019.

2. For the removal of difficulties as specified above, it is hereby declared that, the last date for the First Phase for,-

(1) submission of application shall be the 30th August 2019, only in respect of the identified taxpayers who have made the payment of the requisite amount as mentioned in the application, for the purpose of settlement of arrears, on or before the 31st July 2019, but failed to submit such application on or before the 31st July 2019 ;

(2) the payment of the requisite amount, as given in section 10 read with Annexure-A or Annexure-B appended to the Settlement Act, shall be the 30th August 2019, only in respect of the identified taxpayers who on the 31st July 2019 have attempted to make the payment for the purpose of settlement of arrears but the said payment remained unsuccessful, and the date for submission of application in respect of these taxpayers shall be the 30th August 2019.

3. The identification of taxpayers as mentioned in preceding paragraphs shall be undertaken by the Commissioner of State Tax.

By order and in the name of the Governor of Maharashtra,

J. V. DIPTE,

Deputy Secretary to Government.