• CBDT issued refunds of over Rs 51,531 crore to more than 22.99 lakh taxpayers between April 1, 2021 to August 23, 2021

• I-T Dept has also commenced processing of ITRs 1 & 4 for AY 21-22

• Refunds, if any, will be issued directly to the bank account of the taxpayer

The Income Tax Department on Sunday urged taxpayers to “respond online quickly” so that their pending refunds for assessment year 2020-21 can be processed expeditiously.

In a statement, the department said that till date, 93% of the claims in ITRs (Income Tax Returns) filed for assessment year (AY) 20-21 had already been processed. “In the past week, refunds of over Rs 15,269 crore have been issued which will be credited to taxpayers shortly,” it said.

In order to resolve pending refunds of assessment year 2020-21, the income tax department is in the process of communicating with taxpayers, where response from taxpayers would be required in cases involving notices “for prima facie adjustments, defects, adjustment under section 245 and refund failure due to bank account mismatch”, the statement further read.

“The department requests taxpayers to respond online quickly, so that ITRs in such cases of AY 20-21 can be processed expeditiously,” it said.

The tax department informed that it “has also commenced processing of ITRs 1 and 4 for AY 2021-22 and refunds, if any, will be issued directly to the bank account of the taxpayer.” For financial year 2021-22, the Income Tax Department has issued refunds of over Rs 51,531 crore upto August 23, it further added.

This includes Rs 14,835 crore of income tax refund in 21,70,134 cases and corporate tax refunds of Rs 36,696 crore in 1,28,870 cases.

The department informed that during the last year financial year of 2020-21, refunds of Rs 2.62 lakh crore (which is an increase of over 42 per cent over FY 19-20) were issued to over 2.37 crore taxpayers. “It may be noted that this included the refunds expedited in a series of measures providing relief to taxpayers during the pandemic,” Income Tax Department said.

Meanwhile, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) on Sunday extended the due dates for electronic filing of various Forms under the Income-tax Act, 1961.  The decision was taken due to difficulties being faced by taxpayers in filing certain forms, the direct tax body said.

The application for registration or intimation or approval under Section 10(23C), 12A, 35(1)(ii)/(iia)/(iii) or 80G of the Act in Form No 10A required to be filed on or before June 30, 2021, which was earlier extended to August 31, 2021 on June 25, may now be filed on or before March 31, 2022.

The application for registration or approval under Section 10(23C), 12A or 80G of the Act in Form 10AB, for which the earlier deadline was February 28, 2022, may now be filed on or before March 31, 2022. The Equalization Levy Statement in Form 1 for the Financial Year 2020-21, due date for which was extended to August 31, 2021, can now be filed by December 31, 2021.