Between April ‘20 and Feb ‘21, I-T department refunded Rs 1.98 lakh crore benefitting 1.95 crore taxpayers

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This year the Income Tax department has already refunded more than Rs 1.98 lakh crore in the first 11 months of the current fiscal. The money has been paid to more than 1.95 crore taxpayers.

According to the Central Board of Direct Taxes, the refund amount stands at Rs 198,106 crore. Of this amount, Rs 1.27 lakh crore pertain to corporate tax refunds.

Individual taxpayers have got back Rs 70,572 crore from the I-T department. The number of individuals who got back their due in the 11 months between April 1, 2020 and February 28, 2021 numbered 1,92,45,556, according to a tweet from CBDT.

I-T department officials said that despite the pandemic, they were trying to ensure that the refunds are made promptly.

Though the deadline for filing tax returns for 2019-20 were extended till January 10, 2021 – a record stretch – to accommodate taxpayers during the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic, the government has a reason for worry.

There have been reports in the media that the number of those filing IT returns claiming no taxable income has gone up.

An individual does not need to pay tax at all if his/her annual income is below Rs 2.5 lakh. Those earning between Rs 2.5 lakh and Rs 5 lakh are taxed at 5% but can utilise a rebate that results in zero tax outgo.

According to reports, till end-February 4.95 crore individuals reported income up to Rs 5 lakh in 2019-20. The number is 7% more than those reporting the same income for the earlier year.

Incidentally, in August 2020, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had emphasised the low number of people filing tax returns. He pointed out that in a country of 1.3 billion people, the number of those paying taxes is just about 1.5 crore, or a shade more than 1%.

In August 2020, the Centre said that about 1.5 crore citizens of the country pay Income Tax.

Over the past five years, there has been a reduction in the number of scrutinies that the I-T department carries out every year of the returns filed by salaried individuals and businessmen.

While 0.71% of the returns were selected for scrutiny in 2015-16, the share of returns scrutinised in the next three years were 0.4%, 0.55% and 0.25%.

In February 2020, CBDT said (in FY20) 5.78 crore individuals filed IT returns disclosing income of financial year 2018-19. Out of these, 1.03 crore individuals disclosed income below Rs 2.5 lakh and 3.29 crore individuals revealed taxable income between Rs 2.5 lakh to Rs 5 lakh.