Income Tax: Confirmed! Important ITR refund status message update from I-T department

Income Tax ITR Refund Status: In a major development, the Income Tax department has confirmed said it has issued over Rs 1.76 lakh crore worth refunds to over 1.65 crore taxpayers so far this fiscal. Of this, personal income tax refunds of Rs 58,631 crore have been issued in 1,62,39,742 cases and corporate tax refunds of Rs 1.17 lakh crore have been issued in 2.11 lakh cases.

"CBDT issues refunds of over Rs 1,76,217 crore to more than 1.65 crore taxpayers between 1st April 2020 to 18th January 2021," the income tax department tweeted.

Earlier, on Jan 12, taking another step towards e-governance and encouraging the participation of citizens as stakeholders in curbing tax evasion, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) had launched an automated dedicated e-portal on the e-filing website of the department to receive and process complaints of tax evasion, foreign undisclosed assets as well as grievances regarding benami properties.

People can now file a tax evasion petition through a link on the e-filing website of the department -- https://www.incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in -- under the head "File complaint of tax evasion/undisclosed foreign asset/benami property", CBDT said in a statement.

The new facility allows for filing of complaints by persons who are existing PAN and Aadhaar holders as well as those having no PAN or Aadhaar. After an OTP-based validation process (mobile and/or email), the complainant can file complaints with respect to violations of the Income Tax Act, 1961, Black Money (Undisclosed Foreign Assets and Income) Imposition of Tax Act, 1961 and Prevention of Benami Transactions Act (as amended) in three separate forms designed for the purpose.

Upon successful filing of the complaint, the department will allot a unique number to each complaint and the complainant would be able to view the status of the complaint on the department's website.

This e-portal is yet another initiative of the Income Tax Department to bring about enhanced ease of interaction with the department, while strengthening its resolve towards e-governance, the statement said.