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Business News/ Politics / Policy/  Tax dept looks to cut time taken for refunds down to two months
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Tax dept looks to cut time taken for refunds down to two months

With most tax returns being now filed online and processed at the central processing centre in Bengaluru, the tax department's work has become easier

The last date for the filing of income-tax returns was extended to 5 August from 31 July, except for J&K where the deadline was extended to 31 August. Photo: MintPremium
The last date for the filing of income-tax returns was extended to 5 August from 31 July, except for J&K where the deadline was extended to 31 August. Photo: Mint

New Delhi: In a taxpayer-friendly move, the income-tax department plans to give out all refunds to taxpayers who filed their returns for assessment year 2016-17 online and e-verified it within the deadline, by the end of this month.

With most of the tax returns being now filed online and processed at the central processing centre in Bengaluru, the tax department’s work has become easier.

The target is to reduce the average time taken to give refunds to two months from almost four to six months earlier, said a senior income-tax department official, who declined to be identified.

“The tax department is aiming to give out refunds by 30 September for those returns that were filed electronically and e-verified before the deadline. For those returns that were filed electronically but the signed acknowledgement forms are being sent, the refunds will be issued within two months of the receipt of the acknowledgment," said the official.

The last date for the filing of income-tax returns was extended to 5 August from 31 July, except for Jammu and Kashmir where the deadline was extended to 31 August.

“We have already fully processed the refunds for all returns that were filed by 30 June online and e-verified," the official added.

According to data available with the income-tax department, as of 5 August, more than 22.6 million returns had been filed online, higher than the 20.6 million returns filed online as of 7 September 2015, the deadline for filing returns last assessment year.

However, what is making the tax department’s task easier is that the number of returns e-verified using various options provided by the department has more than doubled.

E-verification does away with the need for sending the hard copy of a signed acknowledgment form to the tax department. It also enables faster processing by the CPC.

More than 7.5 million tax returns were e-verified as of 5 August. This is more than double the 3.3 million or so returns that were e-verified as of 7 September 2015.

The tax department had given a number of options to taxpayers to e-verify the tax returns, including verifying using Aadhaar, an online bank account or a one-time password sent to the registered mobile number and email id.

“It is a good aim but it may be difficult to achieve. It will be a very taxpayer-friendly move as there have been instances of refunds getting stuck," said B.M. Singh, former chairman of the central board of direct taxes.

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Published: 02 Sep 2016, 01:13 AM IST
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