Over 10.2 tax lakh refunds worth Rs 4,250 crore issued till April 14 by CBDT

The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) on Wednesday said that it has issued over 10.2 lakh tax refunds totalling to around Rs 4,250 crore till April 14. The amount is over and above the 2.5 crore refunds that have already been issued FY 19-20 till March 31 that totalled to Rs 1.84 lakh crore.

Through a press release issued by the Ministry of Finance, the CBDT said that about 1.75 lakh more refunds are in the process of issuance this week. "These refunds would get credited directly to the taxpayer bank account in 5-7 business days from issuance. However, in around 1.74 lakh cases, email 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 7 days so that the refund can be processed accordingly," the body said.

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 added.

The body further urged taxpayers to respond to the emails at the earliest so that refunds could be processed and issued at the earliest.

"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 refund. In this regards, it is clarified that these are the necessary routine process related communications to the taxpayers to seek response on defective ITRs, prima facie adjustments and where confirmation is sought about certain claims made by them," said the CBDT.

In all such cases, a quick response from the taxpayer would enable the I-T Department to process their refunds expeditiously, it added.