CBDT Cracks Down on Wrong Tax Claims and Tightens Scrutiny on High-Value Returns
The Income Tax Department has recently detected bogus deduction claims in numerous high-value and system-red-pointed-out filings. This has again ultimately led to the storage of refund payments with the tax department, said Ravi Agarwal on Monday, chairman of CBDT (Central Board of Direct Taxes). He further said that it has been directed that the legalised refunds should be cleared by this month or by December.
CBDT’s chairman, in an event held at Bharat Mandapan, stated that the department is right now inspecting a bunch of ITRs (Income Tax returns) as suggested by the system for claims in question. He said, “We have also written to taxpayers to file a revised return in case they have forgotten something.”
Returns with low value are being released, and those with high value are under scrutiny. Chairman noted, “We have analysed and found that some wrong refunds or deductions were being claimed. So, this is a continuous process.”
As of the data till November 10, the data shows that the rate of refund release has been decreasing year by year, by around 18% to more than Rs. 2.42 lakh crore. Agrawal said the drop may be due to fewer claims and adjusted TDS rates.
The CBDT chairman further noted that the Income Tax Department is working towards reducing legal actions in direct tax matters. He said, “Our appellate authorities are working overtime to ensure that pendency is liquidated.” He said the backlog grew during the COVID years, but the number of cases being cleared has now increased a lot.
He further added, “This year, more than 40% higher disposals have happened in appeals compared to last year. I think we will end the year with a much, much higher number of appeals disposed of.”
