The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) said that Income tax refunds to nearly 8.2 lakh small businesses (proprietors, firms, corporate and trusts) worth ₹ 5,204 Crore have been issued since 8th April 2020. These income tax refunds would help MSMEs to carry on their business activities without pay cuts and layoffs in Covid-19 pandemic situations.

The CBDT said that since the Government’s decision vide Press Note dated 8th April 2020, I-T department has till date issued nearly 14 lakh refunds up to ₹ 5 lakh each in order to help taxpayers in COVID-19 pandemic situation. Keeping its focus on providing relief to the small businesses in MSME sector, CBDT will further issue refunds of ₹ 7,760 Crore earliest possible.

The CBDT reiterated its request that in around 1.74 lakh cases, responses are awaited from taxpayers regarding reconciliation with their outstanding tax demand for which a reminder email has been sent asking them to respond within 7 days so that the refund can be processed earliest.

It may be noted that these responses can be provided online through the taxpayer e-filing account on: www.incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in

Income-tax refunds support MSMEs; refunds issued and pending cases require taxpayer response for reconciliation to proceed. The Central Board of Direct Taxes issued a concentrated programme of income-tax refunds to small businesses in the MSME sector, prioritising expedited payments up to a stated per-case threshold to support operations. A set of cases remains pending for reconciliation with outstanding tax demands; taxpayers in these cases have been sent reminder emails and asked to respond through the e-filing portal within a short timeframe to enable refund processing.