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Over 2.10 crore refunds totalling over Rs 1.22 lakh crore were issued by the Income Tax department in 2015-16, higher than Rs 1.12 lakh crore worth refunds in the previous financial year, the finance ministry said in a statement.
“During FY 2015-16, more than 2.10 crore refunds amounting to Rs 1,22,425 crore were paid compared to Rs 1,12,188 crore in the Financial Year 2014-15 and Rs 89,664 crore in the Financial Year 2013-14,” a finance ministry statement said. Also, more than 94 per cent of income tax returns were filed online in 2015-16, it said.
Indirect tax collections improved in last financial year, pushing up the indirect tax to GDP ratio to about 5.17 per cent as compared to 4.36 per cent for 2014-15. Indirect tax to GDP ratio for the current financial year 2016-17 is estimated to be 5.20 per cent, the ministry said.
According to provisional estimates, indirect collections in 2015-16 had risen to Rs 7.12 lakh crore from Rs 5.43 lakh crore in the previous financial year, while total tax collections were Rs 14.54 lakh crore in 2015-16 compared with Rs 12.39 lakh crore a year ago.
E-payment of central excise and service tax refunds and rebates through RTEGS/NEFT has been implemented and 80 per cent of the refund amount is granted within five days for service exporters. About 4.14 crore returns were processed by the Central Processing Centre, Bengaluru in 2015-16, without any human intervention, the ministry said.
Both the Central Board of Director Taxes (CBDT) and Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) are
making optimum use of technology for expeditious disposal of assessment and refunds as well as for addressing the issues relating to custom clearance and facilitating trade among others, it said.
Single Window Interface for Facilitating Trade (SWIFT) acts as a single point interface for over 50 offices of six government agencies for clearance of Exim Goods and reduces documentation and costs, thereby benefitting over 97 per cent of India’s imports, it added.
