Expect faster I-T refunds due to centralised processing centre

Taxpayers can expect faster refunds from the I-T department this year as the ambitious centralised processing centre of the department will start functioning to full capacity.

The Bangalore-based processing centre of the income tax department has been adding to its technical strength over the months and will include all I-T returns and generate subsequent refunds from across the country in a seamless manner by start of April, a senior tax official said.

The processing centre will handle returns filed on paper and those filed online. The centre would also bring down the usual time of 1-2 years taken to receive refunds by an individual and TDS taxpayers to under six months, the official added.

The CPC would enable the department to cope with rapid growth in the number of taxpayers and consequently lower the volume of work handled by I-T officials.

It would allow the department to bring in more efficient processes in tax administration, the official further added.

Eventually, the I-T department plans that the CPC model would be brought to more cities across the country, having gained experience from the initial CPC.

The Bangalore CPC was initially fed with the I-T returns data from Karnataka and Goa regions to enable it to process 20 lakh paper returns and 60 lakh returns filed online.

The data migration to the central processing centre has also been achieved and the centre will process returns from all parts of the country now.