Coronavirus: Rs 5,204 crore IT refunds issued to small firms

Rs 5,204 crore of income tax refunds have been issued to small businesses, said the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) on Friday. CBDT said that these refunds were issued to 8.2 lakh small businesses including proprietors, forms, corporate and trusts since April 8.

CBDT said that since the government decided to issue the refunds on April 8, the IT department has issued nearly 14 lakh refunds of up to Rs 5 lakh each to help taxpayers affected by coronavirus.

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The CBDT will further issue refunds of Rs 7,760 crore to small businesses as it tries to provide relief to the MSME sector. It said that responses are awaited from taxpayers regarding reconciliation with their outstanding tax demand. CBDT said that reminder emails have been sent asking stakeholders to respond within 7 days so that refunds can be processed.

Meanwhile, Reserve Bank of India Governor Shaktikanta Das on Friday announced targeted longer-term refinancing operations (TLTRO) of Rs 50,000 crore to ensure that small and mid-sized corporates, including non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) and micro finance institutions (MFIs) get enough liquidity. "The RBI will conduct targeted long-term repo operations (TLTRO 2.0) for an aggregate amount of Rs 50,000 crore, to begin with, in tranches of appropriate sizes," said RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das while addressing the media on Friday.

(With agency inputs)

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INDIA CORONAVIRUS TRACKER: BusinessToday.In brings you a daily tracker as coronavirus cases continue to spread. Here is the state-wise data on total cases, fatalities and recoveries in one comprehensive graphic.