New Delhi, July 18 (KNN) After increasing the threshold limit to reduce litigations, Income Tax department has taken another move to focus on high value cases. In this regard the department has directed its field offices to withdraw by August 20 the appeals pending before tribunals and courts that are below the fixed monetary threshold. 

In a circular issued on Tuesday, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) said “the pending appeals or special leave petitions (SLPs) should be withdrawn "on priority" to enable the department to focus on high value litigations.”

The circular instructed the Principal Chief Commissioner of Income Tax to "personally ensure that the exercise of withdrawing/not pressing such appeals is concluded latest by August 20, 2018".

Last week, the government had hiked the threshold limit for filing appeals in tribunals to Rs 20 lakh, while the same for high courts and the Supreme Court has been raised to Rs 50 lakh and Rs 1 crore, respectively in a bid to reduce litigations.

The earlier threshold for filing such appeals by the tax department in Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT)/Customs, Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal (CESTAT) was Rs 10 lakh, while the same in high courts and Supreme Court was Rs 20 lakh and Rs 25 lakh respectively.