The CBDT today said it has directed the Income Tax department to expedite issuance of pending refunds which are below Rs 50,000 as part of its drive to "significantly reduce" taxpayer grievances.
"The status of outstanding refunds was reviewed recently. Following the review, the Central Board of Direct Taxes has issued directions to its field formations to expedite the issue of pending refunds below Rs 50,000 for assessment years 2013-14 and 2014-15 in all such cases which have not been selected for scrutiny.
"The field formations and the Central Processing Centre at Bengaluru have been directed to complete the process as early as possible," the policy-making body of the tax department said in a statement today.
It said the department is "committed to improving taxpayer services and redressing grievances in a timely manner and the initiative is expected to significantly reduce taxpayer grievances and enhance the taxpayer satisfaction".
According to government data, a total of Rs 5,496 crore is locked in pending refunds for these two AYs.
Officials had earlier told PTI that the instructions were issued early this week after a review meeting was held by Revenue Secretary Hasmukh Adhia with senior CBDT officials as part of Finance Ministry's drive to ensure a taxpayer-friendly regime following a call by Prime Minister Narendra Modi for steps to address their grievances and cut down on complaints.
As per the order issued earlier, as of November 1, refunds have to be made on 2.07 lakh IT returns involving Rs 659 crore for Assessment Year (AY) 2013-14 and another set of 12.90 lakh returns pertaining to Rs 4,837 crore for AY 2014-15 which are pending.
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The directions pertain to notices issued by the taxman to a number of assessees under section 245 of the IT Act for 2015-16 fiscal where the latter have contested the demand raised and have emailed their response to the CPC.
An official data had said an outstanding amount of Rs 16,590.22 crore is locked in disputes as 1,49,321 individuals or entities have raised objections to demands made by taxmen.
"As many of these cases are time-barred by March 31, 2016, the jurisdictional assessing officers may be impressed upon to examine the response of the taxpayers urgently and take appropriate action in respect of such demand entries..," the CBDT had said in a recent order.
The Board, in this regard, had earlier asked its Bengaluru-based Central Processing Centre (CPC) to take a step-by-step action in these cases within one month.
The Board had said that when a taxpayer contests a demand, the CPC should issue a reminder to the AO concerned about the contention of the assessee, asking them to either confirm or make appropriate changes to the demand within 30 days.
"In case no response is received from the jurisdictional AO within the stipulated period of 30 days, CPC would issue refunds without any adjustment," the CBDT order had said.
The delay in processing and issuance of IT refunds had also attracted the attention of Prime Minister Narendra Modi last year and, after a review of the subject, he had directed the CBDT to resolve these issues promptly.
