LAHORE: The federal government has decided to process the pending income tax refund claims up to Rs 50 million for the tax year 2020 after completing all formalities by 15th September 2021.

A direction has been passed to the Chief Commissioner Inland Revenue through a letter No. 4(10)Rev Bud/2020 dated 17th August 2021, a copy available with Business Recorder, has referred to the Board's letter dated 24.12.2020 for the payment of current year's refund liabilities out of the current year's revenue stream and that no due refunds should be withheld.

However, the letter has added that the data of the pending income tax refund claims for TY 2020 obtained from PRAL shows that there are still a huge number of applications involving a significant amount of refund are pending with the field formations.

As a result, a number of refund claimants are lodging complaints at different forums for the processing of their refund claims. This situation can be averted through regular processing of the refund claims of taxpayers diligently as per law, the letter said.

Accordingly, the Secretary Revenue Budget has asked the Chief Commissioner Inland Revenue to process the refund claims up to Rs50 million for the tax year 2020 after due diligence by 15th September 2021.

It may be noted that the present government had expedited payment of the stuck up refunds of exporters, as well as the income taxpayers on priority in the wake of an unprecedented lockdown after the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic last year. Since then, the federal government has prioritized the clearance of all the stuck up dues of taxpayers under the head of refunds that have proved a stitch in time, especially for the exports sector.

The refund claimants have taken a deep sigh of relief on the present decision of the federal government, saying that it would be helpful in propping up their businesses amidst the fourth wave of the pandemic.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021