New Delhi: Income-tax Department issued tax refunds of over Rs 1.17 lakh crore in the last financial year ended March 31, of which Rs 37,870 crore was done in an automated manner.


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As per a Finance Ministry release, the Department issued refunds over Rs 1,17,000 crore in 2015-16 and the figure is likely to further increase as banks reconcile the accounts.


"The Central Board Direct Taxes (CBDT achieved significant success in delivery of taxpayer services in Financial Year 2015-16, a record setting year in delivery of taxpayer services," it said.


The Centralised Processing Centre (CPC) at Bengaluru processed more than 4.14 crore Income Tax Returns (ITRs), an increase of over 35 per cent over the previous year.


The CPC also issued over 1.61 crore refunds above Rs 100 to taxpayers, an increase of more than 47 percent over the previous year.


"The CPC issued refunds to the tune of Rs 37,870 crore in an automated manner of which 67 percent were issued within 30 days.


This demonstrates CBDT's commitment to faster and more efficient taxpayer service while saving costs on account of interest outgo," the statement said.


CBDT has also asked taxpayers who have not received their refunds to immediately check whether they have submitted their ITR-Verification (ITR-V) form to CPC Bengaluru.


"They may also check whether have responded to any notice under Section 245 regarding outstanding tax arrears, or notice under Section 139 (9) regarding any defect in their return," it said.


Taxpayers can also electronically verify their return using Electronic Verification Code (EVC) instead of submitting ITR-V by post so that the process is completed faster. Almost 79 lakh taxpayers have used this facility.


The release further said taxpayers also reposed faith in CBDT's e-governance initiatives by electronically filing a whopping 4.34 crore ITRs in FY 2015-16 representing an increase of over 26.83 percent over the previous year.


In addition, over 73.16 lakh other online forms were filed with an increase of nearly 100 percent compared to the previous year.


"CBDT is committed to ensuring world class taxpayer services through its e-governance programs and increasing the coverage and scope of electronic filing and processing of various forms and applications," said the statement.