Refunds worth Rs 26,242 crore processed since April 1, says tax department

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had announced a slew of measures to tide over Covid-19 crisis last week including slashing of TDS/TCS rate for non-salary payments by 25 per cent.

The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has issued tax refunds worth Rs 26,242 crore to 16,84,298 tax assessees between April and May, the apex tax body said on Friday. The refunds were made from April 1 to May 21 this year.

The government had last week slashed TDS (tax deducted at source)/TCS (tax collected at source) rate for non-salary payments by 25% for the remaining months of the fiscal (Pradeep Gaur/Mint File Photo)

Giving the break-up of the refund, the CBDT said that income tax refund amounting to Rs 14,632 crore was given to 15,81,906 individual assessees and Rs 11,610 crore of corporate tax refund to 1,02,392 assessees.

It further said that the refund process has been expedited after Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s announcement in connection with the Atamanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan last week.

The CBDT released a sum of Rs 2050.61 crore in the week ending May 16 (from May 9) to 37,531 income tax assesses and a sum of Rs 867.62 crore to 2,878 corporate tax assesses.

This week, said the CBDT, another tranche of Rs. 2672.97 crore was refunded to 1,22,764 individual income tax assessees and Rs. 6714.34 crore to 33,774 corporate assessees including trusts, MSMEs, proprietorships, partnerships, etc.

The announcement was part a slew of measures to help companies and taxpayers amid the Covid-19 crisis by Sitharaman.

Sitharaman had said that the reduction in TDS/TCS rate would release about Rs 50,000 crore in the hands of people.

The finance minister had further said that all pending refunds to charitable trusts and non-corporate business and professions, including that of proprietorship, partnership, LLP and cooperatives shall be issued immediately.