If you have been paying taxes regularly and correctly in the past, chances are that you could get quick refunds. The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) is in the process of further streamlining the system for reducing the time of refunds to less than 30 days and going forward to 15 days.
For this, it is testing a few systems to appreciate regular and honest tax payers and also new tax payers. The details of this are still under wraps, but could be announced soon once the tests are completed.
“It is difficult to fix a time line for such process, the work is in progress and already the benefits are visible,” a senior CBDT official said.
During the recent dedicated fortnight from June 1-15, 2018, in order to expeditiously clear pending matters of appeal, more than 20,000 cases were cleared and refunds issued to taxpayers, wherever due.
Encouraged by such response, the CBDT has extended this drive in certain regions up to June, 30 2018.Naveen Wadhwa, DGM, Taxmann says, “Granting timely refund of Income Tax wouldn’t only reduce the burden of interest on the Income Tax Department, but it will reduce the pressure on working capital requirement of SMEs.”
He added, “These initiatives will build taxpayers’ confidence on the Tax Department as getting refund of tax is the most satisfying thing for a taxpayer.”
According to a statement issued by the Union Finance Ministry a few hours ago, more than 99 per cent of all refund claims pending for processing as on June 30, 2018, have already been processed and the refunds due have been issued to the taxpayers.
A total of 45.07 lakh cases for refunds were responded during April-June, 2018, which is Nine lakh more than the refund cases cleared during the same period last year. More than three lakh refunds of Assessment Year 2018-19, for which returns have been filed only in last few weeks, have also been issued, CBDT said in a statement.
More than Rs.70,000 crore of refunds have been issued to the taxpayers as a result of the special drive and expeditious processing of returns involving claim of refunds. Gopal Bohra, Partner, N.A Shah Associates LLP says, “Such expeditious clearance and processing of refunds will help in building confidence amongst the taxpayers resulting into increased tax compliance."