CBDT issues refunds worth Rs 1.23 lakh crore to 1.11 crore taxpayers

The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) on Wednesday said it has issued refunds of over Rs 1,23,667 crore to more than 1.11 crore taxpayers during the period from April 1, 2021 to November 22, 2021.

"The income tax refunds of Rs 41,649 crore have been issued in 1,08,88,278 cases and corporate tax refunds of Rs 82,018 crore have been issued in 1,81,218 cases," the Income Tax department said in a tweet.

This also includes 75.75 lakh refunds for assessment year 2021-22, amounting to Rs 15,998.31 crore. The I-T department has urged taxpayers to file their ITRs for 2020-21 fiscal on the e-filing portal at the earliest.

The government has extended the due date for filing ITRs for fiscal 2020-21 twice. In September, the due date for furnishing return of income was extended from September 30, 2021 to December 31, 2021. Before this, the deadline to file ITR was extended from July 31, 2021 to September 30, 2021 due to the second wave of COVID-19 in the country.

The government had launched the new income tax e-filing portal -- incometax.gov.in on June 7. The previous website to file ITR was -- incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in.

The new portal integrates with the immediate processing of Income Tax Returns (ITRs) to issue quick refunds. Interactions and uploads or pending actions of the taxpayer are displayed on a single dashboard for follow-up action. The new portal also provides free of cost ITR preparation software to help with taxpayers' queries for ITR 1, 4 (online and offline) and ITR 2 (offline).

The new ITR website also has a new online payment system with multiple payment options like net banking, UPI, credit card, and RTGS or NEFT from any account of the taxpayer in any bank to ensure hassle-free payments.

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