The Income Tax Department has processed refunds of over Rs 2.45 crore for 6.84 crore verified Income tax returns (ITRs), bringing down the average processing time to 10 days for the assessment year 2023-24

“The department’s efforts to provide seamless and expeditious taxpayer services are being continuously strengthened. In line with the same, the average processing time of ITRs (after verification) has been reduced to 10 days for Returns filed for AY 2023-24 compared to 82 days for AY 2019-20 and 16 days for AY 2022-23,” the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) said in a statement issued on Tuesday.

It is pertinent to state that the department is not able to process the following categories of ITRs for want of certain information/action on the part of taxpayers:

There are about 14 lakh ITRs for AY 2023-24 which have been filed but are yet to be verified by the taxpayers as of September 4 this year. Failure to verify the returns causes delays in processing as the return can only be taken up for processing once the verification has been completed by the taxpayer. Taxpayers are urged to complete the verification process immediately, it said.

“There are about 12 lakh verified ITRs in which further information has been sought by the department, for which requisite communication has been sent to the taxpayers through their registered e-filing accounts. Taxpayers are requested to respond to such communication expeditiously,” it added.

“There are several cases in which the ITRs have been processed and refunds have also been determined but the Department is unable to issue them as taxpayers have not yet validated their bank account in which the refund is to be credited. Taxpayers are requested to validate their bank accounts through the e-filing portal,” it added.