Rs 71,000 refunded to taxpayers: CBDT

NEW DELHI: The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has issued refunds amounting to Rs 71,229 crore in more than 21.24 lakh cases by July 11 to help taxpayers with liquidity in Covid-19 pandemic days.

The government, on April 8, decided to issue pending income tax refunds at the earliest so that honest taxpayers did not suffer from liquidity crisis in the midst of a pandemic.

According to a statement released by the CBDT, income tax refunds amounting to Rs 24,603 crore have been issued in 19.79 lakh cases to taxpayers and corporate tax refunds amounting to Rs 46,626 crore in 1.45 lakh cases to taxpayers during Covid days.

The CBDT stated that the government has laid great emphasis on providing taxrelated services to the taxpayers without any hassles and is aware that during these difficult times of Covid-19 pandemic, many of the taxpayers are waiting to see that their tax demands and refunds reach finality as quickly as possible.

It said that all the refund related cleaning up of the tax demands are being taken upon priority and would be completed by August 31. Also, all applications for rectifications and for giving effect to appeal orders are to be uploaded on the ITBA (income tax business application). It has decided to do all the work of rectification and appeal effect on the ITBA only.

The CBDT reiterated that taxpayers, for quick processing of their refunds, should provide immediate response to the emails of the I-T Department. A quick response from the taxpayer in this regard would facilitate the I-T Department to process their refunds expeditiously.

Many taxpayers have submitted their responses electronically for rectification, appeal effects or tax credits. These are being attended in a time bound manner, the statement said, adding that all refunds have been issued online and directly into the bank accounts of the taxpayers.