Income Tax Dept Targets Disposal of 2 Lakh Appeals Worth Rs 10 Lakh Crore in FY26

The Income Tax Department has launched a special drive to dispose of 200,000 pending appeals involving ₹10 lakh crore in disputed demands during FY26. This initiative focuses on cases stuck at Commissioner (Appeals) level through enhanced digital hearings and dedicated benches. The CBDT has deployed 150 additional officers exclusively for appeal resolution and introduced AI tools for case prioritization. High-value disputes above ₹50 crore will be fast-tracked through newly constituted regional dispute resolution panels. The department aims to reduce average disposal time from 3 years to 9 months by implementing standardized assessment templates and mandatory pre-hearing conferences. Taxpayers will receive automated SMS alerts at each appeal stage, including 15-day reminders for document submission. This clearance drive accompanies the Vivad se Vishwas-2 scheme, offering partial waiver for settled demands. However, practitioners caution that hurried disposals may compromise quality, citing recent instances of template-based orders without case-specific reasoning. The success metric requires balancing speed with judicial fairness in complex tax disputes.