The Income Tax Department on Tuesday said that it has sought information from about 12 lakh ITR filers. It also said that nearly 14 lakh filers are yet to verify their returns which delay their processing.

In a statement, the Department said as on September 5, about 6.98 crore ITRs for Assessment Year 2023-24 (Fiscal Year 2022-23) were filed, out of which 6.84 crore have been verified. More than 6 crore have been processed out of the verified ITRs as on date resulting in processing of over 88 per cent of the verified ITRs. More than 2.45 crore refunds for AY 2023-24 have already been issued.

July 31 was due date for filing returns by salaried and HUF assessees (whose accounts need not to be edited). However, they can file delayed return by December 31 with late fee of ₹1,000-5,000.

Also read: File ITR now, pay tax dues later 

Giving delays for ITRs not processed, the Department said: “There are about 12 lakh verified ITRs in which further information has been sought by the Department, for which requisite communication has been sent to the taxpayers through their registered e-filing accounts. Taxpayers are requested to respond to such communication expeditiously.”

Though the Department has not given any explanation about kind of information, but it is believed that information could be related with claiming exemption of house rent, discrepancies in tax credit claimed and income shown beside others.

Meanwhile, the Department said there are about 14 lakh ITRs for AY 2023-24 which have been filed but are yet to be verified by taxpayers as on September 4. “Failure to verify the returns causes delays in processing as the returns can only be taken up for processing once the verification has been completed by the taxpayer,” it cautioned while urging taxpayers to complete the verification process immediately.

Also read: Number of Income Tax payers down 60% since FY20 

It also highlighted that there are several cases in which the ITRs have been processed and refunds have also been determined due to non-validation bank account, refunds are yet to be credited. “Taxpayers are requested to validate their bank accounts through the e-filing portal,” it advised.

It claimed its efforts to provide seamless and expeditious taxpayer services are being continuously strengthened. Accordingly, average processing time of ITRs (after verification) has been reduced to 10 days for returns filed for AY 2023-24 compared to 82 days for AY 2019-20 and 16 days for AY 2022-23, it said. 

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