IT Refund Error! CBDT stopped many payments, investigation will be completed by December

New Delhi. The Income Tax Department has started a thorough investigation into wrongly claimed refund cases. According to CBDT Chairman Ravi Aggarwal, many taxpayers had made wrong refund claims, on which the department took immediate action and stopped the payment. Verification is going on in all these cases and the entire investigation will be completed by the end of December. Tax refund cases in which irregularities have been found will be cleared only after scrutiny.

Why were the refunds reduced?
There has been a big decline in refund outflow this year. According to CBDT data, refunds issued till November 10 were Rs 2.42 lakh crore, which is 17.7 percent less than last year. Aggarwal said that the deductions claimed in the old tax regime are also being investigated. There are two reasons behind the decrease in the number of refunds – first, this time fewer people are claiming refunds, and second, many wrong claims are now under re-examination.

Full confidence in budget target
CBDT Chairman expressed confidence that the government will achieve the direct tax collection target of Rs 25.2 lakh crore for the financial year 2026. As of November 10, net direct tax collection has increased to Rs 12.92 lakh crore, which is an increase of 7 percent year-on-year. The third advance tax installment is going to come this month, which will make the trends of personal income tax and STT more clear.

Revised return deadline extended
Giving relief to taxpayers, the government has extended the last date for filing revised returns till December 31. This will give additional time to taxpayers to correct their mistakes. Aggarwal also informed that the draft of forms and rules under the new Income Tax Act will be released by December.