CBDT halves refunds issue timeline to 15 days for this fiscal

Concerned over the rising cases of refund-related grievances of the tax-paying public, CBDT Monday issued fresh directions to the Income Tax Department asking it to process all such cases, pending this fiscal, within 15 days instead of the stipulated 30 days.www.taxxcel.com

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“In view of the large volume of pending refunds which are subject to proceedings under section 245 and the timeline of 30 days for responding to the notice allowed to the assessee and the same time period allowed to the assessing officer to confirm or correct the demand, it is taking too long for the demand to be verified and the refunds to be issued, leading to rise of grievances.

“With a view to clear the pendency of refunds which are subject to verification under section 245, it has been decided that the timeline of 30 days for the assessee and the assessing officer may be reduced to 15 days with regard to the notices issued under section 245 to be issued in the balance period of the current financial year,” an order issued by CBDT said.

This is a one-time measure to clear the backlog of refunds and accordingly the reduced timeline of 15 days shall be valid only till March 31, 2016, it said.

A senior official said this is possibly the first time that the department has been issued such directions vis-a-vis clearance of refund cases and the timeline to issue refunds has been reduced to 15 days.

Central Board of Direct Taxes Chairman Atulesh Jindal has himself approved the order, he added. The order pertains to refunds pending till the 2015-16 financial year.

As part of its aim to ease refunds, CBDT had sometime back directed the IT department to take “urgent” steps and resolve by March-end tax demand disputes worth over Rs 16,000 crore of more than 1.49 lakh taxpayers.

The directions pertain to notices issued by the taxman to a number of assessees under section 245 of the IT Act for 2015-16 fiscal where the latter have contested the demand raised and have emailed their response to the CPC.

An official data had said an outstanding amount of Rs 16,590.22 crore is locked in disputes as 1,49,321 individuals or entities have raised objections to demands made by taxmen.

“As many of these cases are time-barred by March 31, 2016, the jurisdictional assessing officers may be impressed upon to examine the response of the taxpayers urgently and take appropriate action in respect of such demand entries..,” the CBDT had said in a recent order.

The Board, in this regard, had earlier asked its Bengaluru-based Central Processing Centre (CPC) to take a step-by-step action in these cases within one month.www.taxxcel.com

The Board had said that when a taxpayer contests a demand, the CPC should issue a reminder to the AO concerned about the contention of the assessee, asking them to either confirm or make appropriate changes to the demand within 30 days.

“In case no response is received from the jurisdictional AO within the stipulated period of 30 days, CPC would issue refunds without any adjustment,” the CBDT order had said.

The delay in processing and issuance of IT refunds had also attracted the attention of Prime Minister Narendra Modi last year and, after a review of the subject, he had directed the CBDT to resolve these issues promptly.

Income Tax Department Lists Norms for Faster Tax Refunds

The CBDT has issued guidelines for expeditious tax refund of up to Rs. 5,000 in cases where the department wants to adjust the refund with a pending demand, which has been contested by the assessee.

The guidelines would help further streamline the process of refunds. Between mid-April and January, the Income Tax department has issued a record Rs. 65,000 crore worth refunds.

“Where the tax payer has contested the demand, Central Processing Centre (CPC) would issue a reminder to the Assessing Officers about the contention of the tax payer, asking them to either confirm or make appropriate changes, to the demand within 30 days,” the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) said in an office memorandum.

The CBDT, further, said where the tax demand has not been contested by the assessee, the CPC would issue a reminder to the taxpayer asking to either agree or disagree with the demand and submit response on the e-filing portal within 30 days.

The office memorandum relates to cases where a notice has been served under Section 245 of the I-T Act to the assesse wherein the I-T Department wants to adjust refund due to an assessee against a demand pertaining to an earlier assessment year.

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Last month, CBDT had directed CPC-Bengaluru and field units that refunds up to Rs. 5,000, and refunds in cases where outstanding arrears are up to Rs. 5,000 may be issued without any adjustment of outstanding arrears. The move was aimed at expediting the process of issue of small refunds.

Commenting on the guidelines, KPMG in India Tax (Partner) Vikas Vasal said: “Adjustment of refunds against outstanding demands, has been a matter of concern for the tax payers for some time now. The recent instructions regarding refund process are a move in the right direction”.

The CBDT said in case where assessee had contested the tax demand, and there is no response from AO to the reminder sent by CPC, then the CPC would issue the refund without any adjustment.

“The responsibility on non-adjustment of refund against outstanding arrears would lie with the AO,” the CBDT said.

With regard to cases where there is no response from tax payer to the reminder notice from CPC, the CPC would adjust the demand along with applicable interest, against the refund due and issue the balance refund, if any, to the tax payer.

The committee formed to simplify I-T Act under Justice R V Easwar had also recommended that the tax refund process should be streamlined and the procedural issues be ironed out to avoid unnecessary litigation.

“It is expected that suitable changes are likely to be made in the forthcoming Union Budget to further smoothen the refund process,” Vasal added. www.taxxcel.com

Waiting for Income Tax refund? Here is some Good News

In a taxpayer-friendly move, the government has directed income tax officials to issue refunds in cases where outstanding arrears are up to Rs 5,000 without any adjustment.

In an initiative to reduce taxpayer grievances and enhance taxpayer satisfaction, the Central Board of Direct Taxes had issued instructions to the Central Processing Centre (CPC), Bengaluru and the field officers in December to issue refunds of amounts less than Rs 50,000 expeditiously.

“In order to further expedite the process of issue of small refunds, CBDT has also directed CPC-Bengaluru and the field units that refunds up to Rs 5,000, and refunds in cases where outstanding arrears are up to Rs 5,000 may be issued without any adjustment of outstanding arrears,” said CBDT, the apex policymaking body of the Income Tax Department.

As a result of the special drive to issue smaller refunds in December, as many as 18,28,627 refunds below Rs 50,000, involving a sum of Rs 1,793 crore, have been issued between December 1, 2015 and January 10, 2016, CBDT said.

These refunds relate to assessment years 2013-14 to 2015-16.

In another statement, CBDT said reducing litigation with the taxpayers has been a key focus area for the Income Tax Department.taxrefund

“Several initiatives have been taken by the Central Board of Direct Taxes in the last three months up to December 2015 to significantly reduce disputes and provide relief to taxpayers facing long standing litigation,” it said.

The significant steps taken by CBDT include issue of a circular revising the monetary limits for filing of appeals by the department with the objective of reducing litigation as a part of its initiatives to reduce grievances of the taxpayers.

CBDT has also directed principal chief commissioners to constitute a collegium of chief commissioners of income tax to consider withdrawal of appeals filed by the department in cases involving tax effect above certain monetary limit.

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Issue of refunds of smaller amounts – regarding

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In an initiative to reduce taxpayer grievances and enhance the taxpayer satisfaction, the Central Board of Direct Taxes had issued instructions to Central Processing Center (CPC), Bengaluru and the field officers in December, 2015 to issue refunds of amounts less than Rs.50,000/- expeditiously.

As a result of the special drive to issue smaller refunds, 18,28,627 refunds below Rs.50,000/- involving a sum of Rs.1,793 crore have been issued between 1 st December, 2015 and 10th January, 2016. These refunds relate to Assessment years 2013-14 to 2015-16.

In order to further expedite the process of issue of small refunds, CBDT has also directed CPC-Bengaluru and the field units that refunds up to Rs.5,000/-, and refunds in cases where outstanding arrears are up to Rs.5,000/- may be issued without any adjustment of outstanding arrears. Office Memorandum F. No. 312/109/2015-OT dated 14th January 2016, conveying these directions of CBDT is available on the website of the Department www.incometaxindia.gov.in.

Waiting for Income Tax Refund? Here is Some Good News

In a taxpayer-friendly move, the government has directed income tax officials to issue refunds in cases where outstanding arrears are up to Rs 5,000 without any adjustment.

In an initiative to reduce taxpayer grievances and enhance taxpayer satisfaction, the Central Board of Direct Taxes had issued instructions to the Central Processing Centre (CPC), Bengaluru and the field officers in December to issue refunds of amounts less than Rs 50,000 expeditiously.

“In order to further expedite the process of issue of small refunds, CBDT has also directed CPC-Bengaluru and the field units that refunds up to Rs 5,000, and refunds in cases where outstanding arrears are up to Rs 5,000 may be issued without any adjustment of outstanding arrears,” said CBDT, the apex policymaking body of the Income Tax Department.

As a result of the special drive to issue smaller refunds in December, as many as 18,28,627 refunds below Rs 50,000, involving a sum of Rs 1,793 crore, have been issued between December 1, 2015 and January 10, 2016, CBDT said.

These refunds relate to assessment years 2013-14 to 2015-16.

In another statement, CBDT said reducing litigation with the taxpayers has been a key focus area for the Income Tax Department.

“Several initiatives have been taken by the Central Board of Direct Taxes in the last three months up to December 2015 to significantly reduce disputes and provide relief to taxpayers facing long standing litigation,” it said.

The significant steps taken by CBDT include issue of a circular revising the monetary limits for filing of appeals by the department with the objective of reducing litigation as a part of its initiatives to reduce grievances of the taxpayers.

CBDT has also directed principal chief commissioners to constitute a collegium of chief commissioners of income tax to consider withdrawal of appeals filed by the department in cases involving tax effect above certain monetary limit.