In 2 Years, Income Taxpayers to Start Getting Refunds Within 24 Hours

The revenue department will put in place within 2 years a mechanism to ensure that all returns are processed within twenty-four hours and refunds issued simultaneously, an official said.

Last month the government has already sanctioned Rs 4,200 crore for up gradation of information technology infrastructure of Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) for processing returns, refunds, faceless scrutiny, and verification.

Ajay Bhushan Pandey (Revenue Secretary) said currently refunds are processed online in an automated manner. Refunds to the tune of Rs 1.50 lakh crore have been given directly in bank accounts in the current year.

Now the system is being further upgraded so that refunds may be received within 24 hours.

Pandey told PTI when asked about the timeline for implementing 24-hour refund: ‘We will try to do it as soon as possible, within the same time frame as faceless assessment, within two years’.

Whereas presenting, 2019-2020 interim budgets the temporary minister of Finance Minister Piyush Goyal had said the Income Tax Department presently functions assessments, returns and online, refunds and queries are all undertaken online.

‘Last year, 99.54 % of income-tax returns were accepted as they were filed. Our government has now approved a path-breaking, technology-intensive project to transform the I-T Department into more assessed-friendly one. Within 24 hours all returns will be processed and refunds issued simultaneously,’ Goyal said.

‘Most of the assessment and verification of returns designated for scrutiny will be done electronically through anonymized back office, manned by tax experts and officials, with no personal interface between taxpayers and tax officers’, the minister said.

 ‘Will bring also in transparency and minimize any subjectivity or human interface’, returns scrutiny anonymously through back office, Pandey said.

Before you file your taxes, you’ll need to collect all of your 2017 tax documents. If you are an employee, that means your W-2, and if you are a freelancer you may have multiple 1099 forms. In some cases, you may have other statements, such as income earned from an interest-bearing savings account or interest paid on a loan, as well.