Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has issued tax refunds worth ₹ 26,242 crore to 16,84,298 assessees since 1st April, 2020 to 21st May, 2020.

Income Tax refunds amounting to ₹ 14,632 crore have been issued to 15,81,906 assessees and corporate tax refunds amounting to ₹ 11,610 crore have been issued to 1,02,392 assessees during this period.

It is stated that the refund process has been further expedited and refunds are being issued at a greater pace since the Union Finance Minister Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman’s announcement made in the Aatma Nirbhar Bharat Abhiyan last week. CBDT has released a sum of ₹ 2050.61 crore in the previous week ended on 16th May, i.e., between 9th to 16th May, 2020 to 37,531 income tax assessees and a sum of ₹ 867.62 crore to 2878 corporate tax assessees. During this week,  i.e. between 17th to 21st May, 2020, yet another 1,22,764 income tax assessees were refunded ₹ 2672.97 crore and 33,774 corporate tax assessees including trusts, MSMEs, proprietorships, partnerships, etc. were issued refunds worth ₹ 6714.34 crore, taking the total amount refunded to ₹ 9387.31 crore in the case of 1,56,538 assessees.

Tax refunds acceleration: expedited issuance to income and corporate taxpayers improving liquidity and processing transparency. Central tax administration has issued widespread tax refunds to income tax and corporate tax assessees, including trusts, MSMEs, proprietorships and partnerships, and has expedited the refund process following a recent policy announcement, reporting bulk weekly disbursements and separate accounting for income and corporate tax refunds.