30 lakh refunds issued till October this year

New Delhi, Nov 8 (UNI) The Income Tax department today said it has issued over 30 lakh refunds in the first seven months of this fiscal that involves a total amount of Rs 18,448 crore.

Refund payouts in non-corporate personal income tax (PIT) category are ahead by 47.16 per cent at Rs 6,135 crore against Rs 4,169 crore during the first seven months of last fiscal.

During this year, over 11 lakh electronic returns have already been received. More such returns are expected by November 15 this year, up to which the last date for filing of mandatory electronic returns stands extended.

During fiscal 2006-07, 3,44,343 electronic returns were filed by various categories of taxpayers. Out of these, 2,38,204 electronic returns have already been processed by the department and refunds amounting Rs 7,816.89 crore in such cases have already been issued up to yesterday. The remaining 1,06,139 electronic returns will be processed by November 30.

Refunds of over Rs 14,000 crore pertaining to large corporate cases have also been processed. Out of these, refunds of over Rs 5,400 crore have been issued and the remaining refunds will also be issued by this month-end, an official statement said.

The Refund Banker Scheme -- launched in Delhi and Patna towards the end of last fiscal and extended subsequently to Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore and Mumbai -- has helped increase the pace of refunds.

It will now be extended to the entire country for the non-corporate PIT category of taxpayers in order to facilitate quick and correct issue of refunds. Taxpayers are advised to furnish their bank details and ECS number in their tax returns so that their refunds can be credited to their bank account electronically.

With the Refund Banker scheme in place all over the country shortly, the Income Tax department envisages no difficulty in processing refund cases. Tax returns have been made annexure-less to facilitate electronic processing of the same.

UNI