All I-T refunds to be settled this month

After having made 8.23 lakh refunds already in the first half of this month, the Income Tax Department on Monday said it will settle all the pending claims in April itself.

Refunds of Rs 78,000 crore to about 85 lakh assesses were made in 2010-11.

In the first half of April, the I-T Department refunded Rs 6,183 crore to 8,23,101 assesses, Chairman of Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) Sudhir Chandra told reporters here.

He said all the remaining refunds will be settled this month. "We are trying to issue all the refunds in April."

Chandra Refunds of about Rs 4,000 crore will be made to 7,91,312 tax assesses by April 20, Chandra added.

The refunds in 2010-11 are about 70 per cent higher than Rs 50,000 crore made in the previous year.

Chandra further said that the I-T Department will settle refunds within one month to all those assesses who file returns electronically.

He said that despite making "huge" refunds, the direct tax collection will be in the range of Rs 4.5 lakh crore, much above the revised estimates of Rs 4.46 lakh crore.