Income Tax Refund: Companies and people believe that various measures taken by the government have reduced the time taken to refund income tax.
A survey by industry body CII said that 89 percent of individuals and 88 percent of companies believe that the time taken to receive income tax ‘refunds’ has reduced in the last five years. The CII Income Tax Refund Survey submitted to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman also found that 75.5 per cent of individuals and 22.4 per cent of companies did not pay TDS (Tax Deduction at Source) in excess of their estimated tax liability.
Benefits of technology and automation
The survey participants (84 percent individuals and 77 percent companies) also believe that the process of checking the status of tax refund is now better and smoother. CII President R Dinesh said, “The measures taken by the government in recent years to streamline, simplify and automate the taxation system have brought considerable benefits. This is evident from the results of CII’s survey on assessing the speed and efficiency of income tax refunds.
The survey said that surprisingly 87 per cent of individuals and 89 per cent of companies feel that the process of claiming income tax ‘refund’ is convenient. CII Director General Chandrajit Banerjee said, “There has been a significant reduction in the waiting time for individuals and companies to receive income tax refunds in the last five years (2018-2023). This is encouraging. This reflects the government’s efforts to simplify and efficient the process of obtaining income tax refund over the last few years.
Survey conducted with 3531 respondents
CII conducted this survey at all India level among 3,531 participants in October 2023. Of these, 56.4 percent were individuals and 43.6 percent were companies/enterprises/organizations. There was participation of major states in this. The survey said that automation and simplification in the income tax ‘refund’ process has increased the trust in the Income Tax Department among the taxpayers.
