Exaggerated, Bogus Claims to Get Refunds Punishable Offence, Warns I-T Department
The I-T Department has asked income tax return filers to not make bogus claims for ex penses, under-report their ear nings or exaggerate deductions as this is a punishable offence anda causes a delay in issuance of re funds.
The ITR filing season for assess ment year 2024-25 will end on July 31 for all categories of taxpayers whose accounts are not supposed to be audited.
According to the Income Tax De partment and administrative body Central Board of Direct Tax es (CBDT), over five crore ITRs ha ve been filed, as of July 26. In a recent public communica tion, the Income Tax Department asked taxpayers to file their returns correctly to get timely re funds. “Refund claims are subject to verification checks, which may cause delays. Accurate filing of ITR leads to quicker processing of refunds. Any discrepancies in the claims made will prompt a request for a revised return (to be filed by the taxpayer),” it said.
It cautioned ITR filing taxpayers to not claim “incorrect” Tax De ducted at Source (TDS) amounts. not “under-report” their income or “exaggerate” deductions or submit claims for “bogus” expenses. The department informed the taxpayers that their claims should be “correct and accurate.”
Filing a false or bogus claim is a punishable offence,” the public communication said.
Taxpayers can claim a variety of deductions and exemptions to lo wer their tax liability under the old ITR filing regime while those opting for the new regime will get a lower tax rate but cannot avail these benefits.
CBDT Chairman Ravi Agrawal had recently told PTI during a post-Budget review that more than 66 per cent of ITR filings this time were under the new regime which is being promoted by the go vernment to make the direct tax system better and simpler.
The communication stated that in case due refunds are delayed, taxpayers should check their e-fi ling account to see if the I-T de partment has sent them any mes sage in this context and if yes, then it should be responded thro ugh the “pending action and work list section” tab.
CBDT chief Agrawal was also as ked about the recent Budget pro posal of withholding the refund
being extended up to 60 days, from the existing thirty days, from the date on which such assessment or reassessment is made.
He said such cases “would not be very substantial in numbers.” “This is basically in those cases
where there is already a demanda in the case of the same assessee or the demand is likely to arise,” Ag rawal said..
Suppose, he said, the refund has been generated but the assess ment proceeding is going on and it is felt that there is a demand that is likely to come.
The provisions are that once the assessment is completed, then an assessee gets 30 days to pay the de mand. So, demand gets due 30 days after the assessment and therefo re, to adjust the refund, that 30-day period has to be there, and therefo re, this timeline.