Income tax department goes slow on refunds over Rs 1 lakh

NEW DELHI: The income tax department is going slow on several refunds of over Rs 1 lakh for 2011-12, amid slowing revenue growth due to the faltering economy. While the government has not issued any directives to the revenue officers to go slow on tax refunds, the indications are strong enough to ensure that refunds above Rs 1 lakh are not issued in a hurry, several tax officials TOI spoke to said on condition of anonymity. 

At least three top officials in the income tax department's field offices confirmed the go slow on refunds, the revenue department and CBDT did not respond to questionnaires sent three weeks ago. A slowing economy and decline in business confidence has hurt revenue receipts. While the government is confident of meeting the tax targets set for the current financial year, revenue officials say the initial months have been tough. 

Latest data released by the finance ministry showed that gross direct tax collections rose over 13.3% to Rs 1.57 lakh crore during April-July 2013, compared to Rs 1.39 lakh crore a year ago. From a 21% increase in gross collections during April-May, the growth rate moderated to 11.5% during the April-June quarter. The officials said the informal advisory to suspend refunds of over Rs 1 lakh was effective from June. 

As a result, the growth in net tax collections, which was estimated at 6.4% in during April-May and April-June, shot up to 10.4% at the end of July. The government did not release the data for April and the revenue department did not share the data on refunds. 

In the budget the finance minister has budgeted for over 18% growth in gross collections of corporation tax, personal income tax and wealth tax. 

Growth has slowed to a decade low of 5% in 2012- 13 and the economy is expected to remain sluggish in the current financial year too, raising fears over the government's ability to meet the fiscal deficit target of 4.8% of GDP. Corporate profitability has also taken a hit due to the slowing economy, which could hurt government's revenue collection drive. finance Minister P Chidambaram has said that government will meet the fiscal deficit target of 4.8% and will not breach the "red line."NEW DELHI: The income tax department is going slow on several refunds of over Rs 1 lakh for 2011-12, amid slowing revenue growth due to the faltering economy. While the government has not issued any directives to the revenue officers to go slow on tax refunds, the indications are strong enough to ensure that refunds above Rs 1 lakh are not issued in a hurry, several tax officials TOI spoke to said on condition of anonymity. 

At least three top officials in the income tax department's field offices confirmed the go slow on refunds, the revenue department and CBDT did not respond to questionnaires sent three weeks ago. A slowing economy and decline in business confidence has hurt revenue receipts. While the government is confident of meeting the tax targets set for the current financial year, revenue officials say the initial months have been tough. 

Latest data released by the finance ministry showed that gross direct tax collections rose over 13.3% to Rs 1.57 lakh crore during April-July 2013, compared to Rs 1.39 lakh crore a year ago. From a 21% increase in gross collections during April-May, the growth rate moderated to 11.5% during the April-June quarter. The officials said the informal advisory to suspend refunds of over Rs 1 lakh was effective from June. 

As a result, the growth in net tax collections, which was estimated at 6.4% in during April-May and April-June, shot up to 10.4% at the end of July. The government did not release the data for April and the revenue department did not share the data on refunds. 

In the budget the finance minister has budgeted for over 18% growth in gross collections of corporation tax, personal income tax and wealth tax. 

Growth has slowed to a decade low of 5% in 2012- 13 and the economy is expected to remain sluggish in the current financial year too, raising fears over the government's ability to meet the fiscal deficit target of 4.8% of GDP. Corporate profitability has also taken a hit due to the slowing economy, which could hurt government's revenue collection drive. finance Minister P Chidambaram has said that government will meet the fiscal deficit target of 4.8% and will not breach the "red line."

ET

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REFUND CHEQUE ISSUED BY CPC BANKER , BUT NOT YET RECEIVED

" IF SEC. 143(1) INTIMATION ORDER GENERATED AFTER THAT, REFUND CHEQUE ISSUED, ALREADY 30-45 DAYS EXPIRED BUT CHEQUE NOT YET RECEIVED TILL NOW ,, 

THEN IN THAT CASE,, WITHOUT WASTING ANY TIME ,, IMMEDIATE SEND AN E-MAIL TO THE FOLLOWING ADDRESS FOR FURTHER ISSUE OF REFUND THROUGH ECS & ....

1) itro@sbi.co.in
2) refunds@incometaxindia.gov.in

Friends, Recently, I got A REFUND AMOUNT OF RS .57000/= ( with interest ) within 72 hrs from SBI CPC Banker Mumbai ( through ECS ) from the date of above application .

FORMAT GIVEN :-
To,
The
Chief Manager (ITRO)
State Bank of India
CMP Centre, Mumbai

" SUB : REFUND CHEQUE ISSUED BY CPC BANKER , BUT NOT YET RECEIVED "


Download  TDSMAN ETDS Return Software at 10% Discount for FY 2013-14 (MRP: 3000/- DIS: 300/- NET: 2700/-) Free Trial Also Available

Thanks.
PALASH RAKSHIT.

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Taxpayers to get unique number for complaints

Taxpayers having grievances regarding their I-T refunds and tax computations will now get a unique acknowledgement number with an assurance that their complaint will be resolved within two months time.

The newly introduced number will not add to confusion and will be different from the existing unique numbers issued by the Income Tax department to taxpayers, like the PAN, TAN and Unique Transaction Number (UTN), authorities said.

The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), which frames policies and rules for the I-T department, has asked all its Chief Commissioners across the country to ensure these new facilities for taxpayers with "immediate effect".

The CBDT, according to sources, has issued these directions on July 5 after the Delhi High Court recently passed orders with regard to fine tuning procedures followed by the department on receipt and disposal of 'rectification applications' which are filed by taxpayers under Section 154 of the I-T Act.

"Whether the taxpayer files his rectification application by ordinary post, by hand or online, the receipt counter of the department will generate a special and unique acknowledgement number for the taxpayer by which he or she will be assured of solving the grievance within a stipulated time. The taxpayer can quote this number in any further communication with the department," a senior I-T officer said.

It has also been instructed by CBDT that rectification applications are "decided as far as possible within a period of two months from the end of the month in which application is received."
Source: Business Standard

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How to get back your Income tax refund in just 60 days !

Do you have any idea about your income tax refund status ? Have you filed your Income tax return long back, but have no idea when will you get your tax fund ? This is one issue faced by millions of tax payers in India. They file a income tax return where they claim back their income tax refund, but have no idea what happens to their cases after that!.

For months and years, they keep waiting for the refund status, but they have no idea when they will get their money back. Ideally they should get it back in few months, but in many cases they wait for as long as 3-4 yrs. In this article, we will see how you can find out your income tax refund status online and how you can use RTI application to find out the status of your tax refund and speed up the process of getting it back.
How to find income tax refund status online

If you have filed income tax return asking for your tax refund, and you have no clue about the current status, the first thing you do is track it’s status online. All you need is your PAN number and assessment year for which you have applied for refund. Here is what you need to do

Visit tin.tin.nsdl.com/oltas/refundstatuslogin.html

Enter your PAN number
Select Assessment Year
Click Submit

You can also track your income tax refund status by contacting the help desk of SBI at 080-26599760 or contacting the Aaykar Sampark Kendra at 0124 2438000
File RTI application for income tax refund status

If you are not able to do much and you feel that just finding out online status is not helping you and you want to now get 100% clarity about your tax refund status, the next step is to file RTI application against income tax department. So your next step is to file RTI in your tax refund case also. but you should wait for at least a year before you file for RTI against the income tax department.

Note that the RTI application has to be addressed to CPIO officer. Now the next question is how to find out the CPIO information. Its actually not organised in a clean manner, but you need to start by going to this website http://www. incometaxindia.gov.in/ccit/ rtipage.asp and then on that page you need to choose your state (your jurisdiction) from the drop down and click on “go.” It will take you to the next page where you need to click on “CPIO/CAPIO” and play around to find out the exact place where they have dumped all that information. Below you can find a RTI template which you can use .

Download this RTI template for income tax refund

What should you ask while filing RTI

You should ask for name and designation of the officer who is supposed to process your income tax refund claim

Also ask for the officer official address and his contact number

Also ask for how long the refund is pending with the officer and the reason for the delay

Ask if some senior authority has instructed for delay and the certified copies if any

Also ask for the name, telephone number and address of the higher officer with whom you can file the first appeal

These above mentioned 5 things if asked in RTI, will be enough to move the earth below the concerned authorities feet and they might act faster on your case, because in most of the cases there are no valid reasons for delay. The delay is created just because of lethargy and at times in expectation that someone will visit them and bribe them to process the request!. Note that only the concerned person can file the RTI, no one else on his behalf can file it. In case you have tax refund for different years, better file separate RTIs for each. Do not mix them into one.

Tips while filing for Income Tax Refund

There are few well known mistakes people do while filing returns, because of which income tax refund delays happen. Lets see those points and make sure you dont do them.

1.Make sure your give permanent Address

A lot of salaried people who live on rent, give their present temporary addresses while claiming tax refund, and when after 1-2 years their tax refund cheque arrives, in many cases the person has moved out of the current location. This causes the cheque to return back and the person is not there on the given address. So make sure you always give the permanent address where you or your family lives and there is almost no chances of cheque returning back.

2. Give accurate Account Details, IFSC code

There has been cases where the account number given was inaccurate by 1-2 digits or the IFSC code was wrong, and that created the problem. This small thing can result in lot of frustration later, so double-triple check these details.

3. Try to do E-filing of your tax returns, if possible

As far as possible, try to file your income tax returns online and apply for tax refund, because the tax refund is much faster if e-filing was done. In case you are filing offline manually, make sure you fill form 30, contact your CA if you want to delegate this totally to someone else!
Conclusion

If you have been waiting for your tax refund from years, its the time to file a RTI application for it and find out why your income tax refund has been delayed for so long.

By: https://www.facebook.com/groups/CA.MEERUT/

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