THE time to talk about GAAR has come. The Provisions of GAAR are contained in Chapter X-A of the Income-tax Act, 1961 (the Act). The GAAR provisions shall be effective from assessment year 2018-19 onwards, i.e.; financial Year 2017-18 onwards. The necessary procedures for application of GAAR and conditions under which it shall not apply, have been enumerated in Rules 10U to 10UC of the Income-tax Rules, 1962.

As per the CBDT, several stakeholders and industry associations have represented that guidelines for implementation of GAAR be issued so that there is adequate clarity in this regard.

The general public and stakeholders have therefore been requested by the CBDT to provide their inputs on the provisions of GAAR in respect of which further clarity is required, from its implementation perspective. For the exercise to be meaningful, it is essential that reference to hypothetical situation is avoided. If the input relates to interpretation of a specific real world structure or arrangement, the structure should be such as commonly occurs in the sector and involves clarification of general principles of application. Further, in relation to such structure, the particular provision and apprehensions or doubt alongwith basis thereof may also be provided with all the relevant facts.

The inputs may be provided on or before 30.06.2015 electronically on e-mail ID gaar-dor@gov.in and/ or by post at the following address with “Comments for Guidance Note on GAAR” written on the envelop.