Income Tax Department on Friday claimed that it issued refund in more than 20.44 lakh cases amounting to more than ₹62,361 crore during the period of work days.

A statement issued by Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), the apex policy making body for income tax, said that the department has issued tax refunds at a speed of 76 cases per minute from April 8 to June 30. During this period income tax refunds amounting to ₹23,453.57 crore have been issued in 19,07,853 cases to taxpayers and corporate tax refunds amounting to ₹38,908.37 crore have been issued in 1,36,744 cases to taxpayers during this period.

Refunds of this magnitude and numbers have been issued completely electronically and have been directly deposited into the bank accounts of the taxpayers. Unlike what used to happen some years ago, in these refund cases, no taxpayer had to approach an officer of the department to request for release of refund. They now get the refund directly into their bank accounts, the board said.

The CBDT said that taxpayers should provide immediate response to emails of the I-T Department so that their refunds can be processed and issued right away. Such emails ask taxpayers to confirm their outstanding demand, bank account number and reconciliation of defect/mismatch prior to issue of refund. In all such cases, quick responses from the taxpayers would have enabled the I-T Department to process their refunds expeditiously.

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