Income Tax Return: More Than 2.45 Crore Refunds For AY 2023-24 Issued, Says CBDT
The Income Tax department said that of the 6.98 crore ITRs filed, 6.84 crore have been verified for the annual year 2023-24.
ITR Filing 2023: The last date to e-verify the ITRs (Income Tax Returns) filed in July was in August, this is based on the new 30-day e-verification norm. Earlier, taxpayers could e-verify ITRs for 120 days.
On September 5, the Income Tax department shared that out of the 6.98 crore ITRs filed, 6.84 crore have been verified for the annual year 2023-24.
This means that the department has accomplished the goal of processing 88% of the verified ITRs.
More than 2.45 crore refunds for the annual year 2023-24 have been issued with an average processing time of ITRs (after verification) reduced to 10 days.
"The department's efforts to provide seamless and expeditious taxpayer services are being continuously strengthened," said the Income Tax department.
As compared to the annual year 2019-20 and 2022-23 where processing took 82 days and 16 days respectively, it is observed that the average processing time of ITRs (after verification) has been deducted to 10 days for returns filed for the annual year 2023-24.
However, the department struggled to process returns in the following instances:
There are about 14 lakh ITRs for the annual year 2023-24 which have been filed but are yet to be verified by the taxpayers as of September 4. Failure to verify the returns causes delays in processing as the return can only be taken up for processing once the taxpayer has completed the verification. Taxpayers are urged to complete the verification process immediately.
There are about 12 lakh verified ITRs in which further information has been sought by the department, for which requisite communication has been sent to the taxpayers through their registered e-filing accounts. Taxpayers are requested to respond to such communication expeditiously.
The department came across several cases where the taxpayer had not verified their bank accounts and hence the refund could not be issued. The department requests such taxpayers to validate their bank accounts through their e-filing portal.
Lastly, the department stressed that it is committed to speedy processing and expeditious issue of refunds and solicits the cooperation of the taxpayers.
