Income tax Refund 2019-20: The Income Tax department has taken many steps to ensure faster disposal of Income Tax Refunds. At present, the Income Tax Department issues refund up to Rs 5000 that too without adjusting outstanding demand to speed up the refund process. Last week Anurag Thakur, Minister of State for Finance said in a written reply to an inquiry in Lok Sabha: "In order to speed up the processing of refund in small cases, refunds up to Rs 5,000 are being issued without adjustment of outstanding demand. Moreover, the Government has sanctioned CPC-ITR 2.0 Project, which will have significantly higher processing capacity leading to faster determination and issue of refunds."

The Minister further added that all income tax refunds are credited directly to the taxpayer's bank account through Electronic Clearing Service from March 2019. Thakur said, "Since March 2019, all income tax refunds are credited directly to the bank account of the taxpayers through Electronic Clearing Service. This ensures faster and safer credit of refunds as compared to the earlier practice of issuance of paper cheques sent by post to the taxpayer."

The tax department refunds excess tax is paid by an assessee. A tax refund can be applied for by filing Income Tax Return (ITR). By doing initial verification of the income tax return, individuals can get early refunds from the tax department. The individuals can verify their return in 120 days from the date of filing the return.

Thakur also clarified that individuals who failed to file their Income Tax Return for Assessment Year 2019-20, can do it till March 31, 2020. Up to 15 February 2020, 6.35 crore individuals have filed Income Tax Return for Assessment year 2019-20. "The belated ITRs of AY 2019-20 can be submitted up to 31-Mar-2020; therefore, this number will increase further," Thakur said.