Income Tax: The Income Tax Department in a circular has said that the taxpayers who are still waiting for their tax refunds of FY2020-21 (AY2021-22) would get their payments by April 30, 2024. In a notification issued on March 1, 2024, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) stated that these individuals can get their income tax refund by April 30, 2024. Therefore, taxpayers should regularly check their email for any intimation notice from the Income Tax Department.
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The emails will have the details of the tax refund, if any, payable to them.
After a taxpayer files a return request at the Centralised Processing Centre (CPC) within a specified period, the Income-Tax department issues an intimation notice under Section 143(1) of the Income-tax Act, 1961. If an individual has received an intimation notice for the same, it means that their filed ITR has been successfully processed. It is usually followed by the credit of refund amount, if any.
However, some taxpayers have been awaiting the processing of their ITRs for income related to FY 2020-21 (AY 2021-22).
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The CBDT, in its notice, said: “It has been brought to our notice that due to certain technical issues or for other reasons not attributable to the assesses concerned, several returns for assessment year (AY) 2021-22, which were otherwise filed validly, could not be processed under sub-section (1) of section 143 of the Act. Consequently, intimation regarding processing of such returns could not be sent within the timeframe prescribed under sub-section (1) of section 143 of the Act. This has led to a situation where the taxpayers are unable to get their legitimate refund in accordance with provisions of the Act, although the delay is not attributable to them.”
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Delayed returns
Till AY 2021-22 (March 31, 2022), the timeframe for CPC to process a return was one year from the end of the financial year in which the ITR was filed. Therefore, for FY2020-21, the deadline to file ITR was 2021-22. So, the last window for the income tax department to process this refund was one year from this date, which is March 31, 2023.
After the timeframe lapsed, the CPC can neither process ITRs or intimation notice under section 143 (1).
Deadline to file revised returns
It is to be noted that the deadline for submitting an updated income tax return (ITR) for the financial year 2020-21 will end on March 31, 2024. The Centre in 2022 introduced the Finance Act of 2022, which allows taxpayers who missed filing their return for the said financial year or failed to report any income to file an updated ITR or ITR-U.
An updated return can be filed within 24 months (two years) from the end of the relevant assessment year (subject to certain conditions).
