Government of India

Ministry of Finance

Department of Revenue

Central Board of Direct Taxes

New Delhi, 4th July, 2018

PRESS RELEASE

Special drive for expeditious clearance of pending appeal effect and rectification matters and issue of refunds

The Income Tax Department observed a dedicated fortnight from 1st to 15th June, 2018 to expeditiously clear pending matters of appeal effect and rectification. More than 20,000 such matters were disposed of and refunds were issued to the taxpayers, wherever due. Seeing the success of this initiative, the special drive was extended in certain regions up to 30th June, 2018.

Further, large amounts of refunds have also been issued consequent to processing of income-tax returns. More than 99% of all refund claims pending for processing as on 30.06.2018 have already been processed and the refunds due have been issued to the taxpayers. In all, refunds in 45.07 lakh cases have been issued during April-June, 2018, which is 9.0 lakh more than the refunds issued during the same period last year. More than 3 lakh refunds of Assessment Year 2018-19, for which returns have been filed only in last few weeks, have also been issued.

More than ₹ 70,000 crore of refunds have been issued to the taxpayers as a result of the special drive and expeditious processing of returns involving claim of refunds. Central Board of Direct Taxes is committed to constantly reducing the service delivery timelines, expeditiously resolving the grievances of the taxpayers and improving the overall level of taxpayer service.

(Y. D. Sharma)

Commissioner of Income Tax

(Media & Technical Policy)

Official Spokesperson, CBDT.

Refund issuance accelerated: pending appeal-effect and rectification matters cleared, refunds issued promptly to taxpayers nationwide. Special administrative initiative enacted a special drive to expedite disposal of pending appeal-effect and rectification matters and accelerate refund issuance; the Department prioritised processing of returns with refund claims, extended the drive regionally where required, and reported large-scale processing of pending refund claims with the majority cleared by the end of the period.