Income Tax refunds of Rs 4,250 cr issued in a week, says CBDT

New Delhi: The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) on Wednesday (April 15) said it has issued over 10.2 lakh refunds totalling Rs 4,250 crore as on April 14. In a statement, the CBDT said these refunds are over and above the 2.5 crore refunds already issued in FY 19-20 till March 31 totalling Rs 1.84 lakh crore.

Last week, the Finance Ministry had said it will fast track issuance of pending income tax refunds up to Rs 5 lakh, which will benefit around 14 lakh taxpayers, to provide relief to individuals and businesses hit by COVID-19 outbreak.

CBDT further said that about 1.75 lakh more refunds are in the process of issuance this week, adding "These refunds will get credited directly to the taxpayer bank account in five to seven business days from issuance."

The CBDT further said, "In about 1.74 lakh cases, e-mail responses are awaited from taxpayers regarding reconciliation with their outstanding tax demand for which a reminder email has been sent asking them to respond within seven days so that the refund can be processed accordingly."

Notably, these reminder emails from the I-T department are in fact for the benefit of taxpayers as it seeks them to confirm their outstanding demand, their bank accounts and reconciliation of defect/mismatch prior to the issue of refund.

CBDT appealed that it is in the interest of taxpayers to provide a response to such emails at the earliest so that refunds could be processed and issued at the earliest. CBDT has requested taxpayers to check their email and login to their e-filing account to respond to the I-T Department immediately.

CBDT also said that it has noted in a few media, including social media, some questions are being raised with regards to CBDT’s computerised email to the taxpayers to respond within 7 days for enabling the department to process the refund. 

In this regard, it is clarified that these are the necessary routine process-related communications to the taxpayers to seek a response on defective ITRs, prima facie adjustments and where confirmation is sought about certain claims made by them. In all such cases, a quick response from the taxpayer would enable the I-T Department to process their refunds expeditiously.