Income-tax (I-T) department has issued refunds to the tune of Rs 1.42 lakh crore during the current financial year up to February 10, 2017, up by 41.5 per cent compared to the corresponding period last year. The Centralised Processing Centre (CPC) of the tax department has already processed over 4.19 crore income tax returns (ITRs) and issued over 1.62 crore refunds.
Of the refunds issued, 92 per cent are below Rs 50,000 due to the high priority given to expeditious issue of refunds to small taxpayers. Only 2 per cent of refunds less than Rs 50,000 are yet to be issued with a majority of these cases relating to recently-filed returns or where a response from taxpayers is awaited.
In a move to speed up refunds, 92% of all I-T returns were processed within 60 days, demonstrating the Central Board of Direct Taxes' (CBDT) commitment to faster and more efficient taxpayer service. Around 4 crore ITRs were filed electronically till February 10, 2017, which is an increase of 20% over the previous year. Also, more than 60 lakh other online forms were filed with an increase of nearly 41 per cent compared to the previous year.
CBDT is committed to ensuring best possible taxpayer services through its e-governance programmes and increasing the coverage and scope of electronic filing and processing of various forms and applications. Taxpayers are advised to verify and update their email address and mobile number on the e-filing portal to receive electronic communication.