Only 6.74 lakh claims for refund of income-tax are pending with the I-T Department after it launched a special drive to clear the pendencies, Parliament was informed today. Responding to a query in the Lok Sabha, the Finance Minister, Mr Pranab Mukherjee, said while the department does not maintain records on the quantum of income-tax refunds claimed, as of March 31, 2011, approximately 38.26 lakh returns claiming refund were pending for processing.

he Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) will save an estimated Rs 4,400 crore in interest payout in the current year by preponing tax refunds and clearing the backlog. “We will save Rs 4,400 crore in the current year for preparing the refunds and clearing the backlog of the refunds,” chairman CBDT Sudhir Chandra said.

The Electronic Clearing System (ECS) of the Income Tax (I-T) Department has been hacked into, jeopardising the functioning of department across Mumbai. On Wednesday, three days after the incident, the I-T department handed over the investigation to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

In a rare instance, a group of four—led by a chartered accountant (CA)—succeeded in extracting from the income tax (I-T) department fraudulent tax refunds, amounting to over Rs 3 crore, in the names of 30 people.The I-T officials on Tuesday managed to locate one of the four, Nitin Dalvi, and recorded his statement. The other three, CA Dilip Vyas and his accomplices Sandeep Roy and Mohan Gadge, are still at large.

For the first time the state government has candidly admitted that there is corruption at commercial tax department VAT checkposts. Industries minister Saurabh Dalal in an interaction with Gujarat Sales Tax Bar Association (GSTBA) has appealed to traders to come forward to lodge complaints against errant officers.

In suppression of the Government Notification, Finance Department, No.VAT-1507/ CR-41/ Taxation-1, dated the 25th June 2007, the Government of Maharashtra hereby provides for grant of refund of the tax, collected by any registered dealer on his sales made to the diplomatic authorities and international bodies or organisations mentioned in column (2) of the Schedule appended hereto, subject to the conditions specified against each of them in column (3) of the said Schedule:—

The I-T department has decided to extend the Refund Banker Scheme that allows refund of excess tax money to taxpayers to nine more cities, including Ahmedabad and Kochi.

Individual and small corporate taxpayers will get income or corporate tax refunds in four months, with the refund banker scheme spreading across the country soon. The refunds, arising out of tax payments and TDS collections, usually take more than a year to reach the average taxpayer. “Tax and TDS refunds will now reach the individual and [...]

Refund Banker is a scheme wherein a scheduled bank is authorised to issuerefund instruments, either in paper form or electronically, on behalf of theIncome-Tax department. Under this scheme, assessees benefit from faster tax refunds and direct credit into their bank accounts on the lines of dividend payments made bycorporates to shareholders. State Bank of India (SBI) is already operating as the ‘Refund Bank’ for the Income-Tax department in Delhi, Patna, Chennai,

Companies and individuals who do not reveal their Permanent Account Number (PAN) while receiving income from any source will be liable to pay tax deducted at source (TDS) at the maximum marginal rate of 30 per cent (plus surcharge and education cess). Under the Income Tax Act, 1961, any income payable to the assessee is liable for TDS by the person or entity making the payment. TDS rate ranges from 1 per cent to 30 per cent depending on the nature of income. The Central Board of Direct Taxes is considering changes to the Act to this effect.