The deadline for filing income tax returns for the financial year 2023-24 or assessment year 2024-25 has expired. A new record was set for filing income tax returns before the deadline ended on July 31 and this time the figure crossed 7 crores. Meanwhile, taxpayers have started raising questions about the delay in getting refund money.
Similarly, a user on the social media platform X made a serious allegation against the Income Tax Department regarding the delay in getting the income tax refund money. The user says that the department is deliberately delaying the processing of the returns, due to which people are not able to get the refund money. However, the Income Tax Department has denied the allegations of the user.
New record of ITR filing
However, this year has proved to be great for the Income Tax Department. According to the data of the Income Tax Department, a total of 7.28 crore income tax returns were filed by taxpayers before the deadline this year i.e. till 31 July 2024. This is 7.5 percent more than last year. Last year, 6.77 crore income tax returns were filed by the deadline, which was a record. However, now that record has been improved this year.
Taxpayers are making such serious allegations
Raising questions about the delay in refund on X, the user has written – If a refund of more than Rs 5,000 is being made in your income tax return, then forget it. The Income Tax Department is not even interested in processing your return. Yes, if there is no payable in your ITR, that is, no refund is being made, then the Income Tax Department will process your ITR in 6 hours only.
Income Tax Department said – Wrong perception
The Income Tax Department objected to the said post on X from its official handle and termed the allegation of deliberate delay in issuing refunds and processing refundable income tax returns as wrong. The department said that the opinion being formed is wrong. It is a priority for the department to process all ITRs including refundable ITRs quickly.
Refunds of more than 1 lakh crore issued
The Income Tax Department also shared the data of refunds issued after processing income tax returns. It said that so far in the current financial year, refunds of more than Rs 1.23 lakh crore have been issued to taxpayers. Out of them, refunds of more than Rs 15 thousand crore have been issued in the last 5 days. The department does not discriminate between small or big refunds.
