CBDT issues refunds worth Rs 1.71 lakh crore to taxpayers in FY22

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The income tax department on Wednesday said it has issued refunds of over Rs 1.71 lakh crore to more than 1.97 crore taxpayers so far in the current fiscal year.

In a tweet, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) said, "Refunds of over Rs. 1,71,555 crore to more than 1.97 crore taxpayers from 1 April 2021 to 14 February 2022 have been issued".

This includes income tax refunds worth Rs 63,234 crore being issued to 1.95 crore individual cases of direct income tax filed by individuals. Also, corporate tax refunds worth Rs 1.08 lakh crore have been issued in 2.28 lakh cases of corporate tax filed by companies.

Majority of the refunds (worth Rs 1.39 lakh crore) are being issued for income tax paid for the FY21 (2020-21) assessment year which ended on March 31. For individual taxpayers, the deadline for filing tax returns for that fiscal was December 31, 2021. For corporate taxpayers, the last date is March 15, 2022.

The government has been issuing refunds with a larger than usual lag for FY21. The income tax department had declared that the upgrade in software was in process for faster processing of refunds, as a result of which the process would be delayed.

However, the CBDT has also issued refunds worth Rs 31,857.27 crore to 1.58 crore cases for the ongoing fiscal year of FY22 (2021-22).

Total income tax refunds paid by the government have been fluctuating over the years. In FY16 (2015-16), total refunds paid were Rs 1 .22 lakh crore. This rose to Rs 1.62 lakh crore in FY17 (2016-17), Rs. 1.51 lakh crore in FY18 (2017-18) and upwards of Rs 1.5 lakh crore in FY19 (2018-19).