The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) announced the revivification of all high-value refunds issued during the current fiscal year. A more foolproof system would also be implemented for the refunds of taxes.

Earlier it was detected on January 12 by an officer in the Income-Tax Department, Mumbai that refunds were made without his or his superior's permission. An enquiry within the IT department found that user Ids and passwords of certain officers were used fraudulently for the purpose of refunds.

The department said that it has taken some actions to contain the damage and CTBT issued stop payment orders in the suspected cases. A high-value refund is one in which the amount is over Rs 1 lakh, according to CTBT.

Directorate of Income Tax (Investigation), Mumbai, conducted investigation to find the bank accounts and the beneficiaries which received the refunds under suspicion.

The department was able to trace Bank accounts, beneficiaries and some of the people involved in fraudulent activities. Mumbai police and Central Bureau of Investigation were informed of the case.

The IT department refunds for the first nine months of the financial year were 49.76 per cent higher at Rs 8,954 crore than the previous year.