New Delhi, Jan 6 (IANS): With response to the indirect tax amnesty scheme gathering pace, as many as 87.5 per cent of the eligible taxpayers have opted for the Sabka Vishwas (Legacy Dispute Resolution) Scheme, 2019.

The Finance Ministry had last week extended the window for participating in the scheme by a fortnight to January 15, 2020.

Terming the response as huge and participation a record, an official said that large taxpayers who are almost 12.5 per cent of the total eligible taxpayers under the scheme are yet to make up their minds to avail the benefits.

He said that large taxpayers have not yet opted for the scheme due to many reasons.

"One probable reason why the large taxpayers are still hesitating to come under the scheme could be the vast array of intermediaries including tax consultants, lawyers, etc. whom they rely upon. For obvious reasons, the immediate settlement of these long pending cases is not seen in the best interests of these intermediaries," he said.

Sources said that till now 161,214 taxpayers (87.5 per cent) out of the total 1.84 lakh eligible taxpayers have already availed the Scheme. These taxpayers have declared tax dues of around Rs 79,968 crore and after availing the various reliefs and amnesty as per the rules of the scheme, they would pay around Rs 35,094 crore to the government.

A considerable amount of about Rs 1.7 lakh crore is under litigation involving large taxpayers, said the official quoted above.

The Sabka Vishwas (Legacy Dispute Resolution) Scheme or SVLDRS was introduced in last Budget with the twin objectives of liquidating the legacy disputes in central excise and service tax.