Central Board of Direct Taxes has declared August 31 as deadline for the taxpayers whose Income Tax Returns for six assessment years between 2009-10 and 2014-15 are pending for processing and issuance of refunds due to issues of non-filing of ITR-V acknowledgement form at its Bengaluru-based collection centre.

Offering the “final opportunity”, the department has said taxpayers whose refunds and tax issues are pending for assessment years (AYs) 2009-10, 2010-11, 2011-12, 2012-13, 2013-14 and 2014-15, should immediately authenticate their Income Tax Returns by using either the electronic verification by Aadhaar or bank account-based facility available on its official web portal or send a bonafide copy of the ITR-V to its CPC in Bengaluru by “speed post” before August 31.

“...in case of returns for AYs (2009-10 to 2014-15) which were uploaded electronically by the taxpayer within the time allowed under section 139 of the Act and which have remained incomplete due to non-submission of ITR-V Form for verification, hereby permits verification of such returns also through EVC.

“Such verification process must be completed by August 31. As an alternative to EVC, the taxpayer is allowed to send a duly-signed copy of ITR-V to the Central Processing Centre, Bengaluru by this date by speed post,” a CBDT directive, accessed by PTI, said.

The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), the policy- making body of the IT department, added that in situations “where the taxpayer concerned had submitted the ITR-V Form after the permitted time which was earlier being treated as non-est (does not exist) and evidence of same is available with the department, the same shall be treated as valid compliance of this order and dealt with accordingly.

It added that this breather will, however, not apply in those cases “where during the intervening period, the department has already taken recourse to any other measure as specified in the Act for ensuring filing of tax return by the taxpayer concerned after declaring the return non-est.”

The CBDT said this is “the final opportunity being provided to the taxpayers to regularise their pending ITRs pertaining to AYs 2009-10 till 2014-15 which were filed as per provisions of section 139 of the Act but were declared non-est/have remained pending for verification just for want of receipt of a valid ITR-V form at CPC, Bengaluru.”

Taxpayers have been advised to check their status of pending returns for the said AYs at the IT department website for e-filing -- http://incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in/ . They can log in by using their PAN number and specific year of assessment.

The department, in order to make the ITR filing system paperless and hassle-free, had introduced the e-validation of ITRs by using the Aadhaar and bank account numbers last year.

The CBDT, a senior official said, had issued the latest order after it received numerous complaints from taxpayers whose refunds were either pending or remained un-processed due to ITR-V not reaching the CPC due to either postal failure or any other reasons.

CBDT added that all such cases received by August 31 will be processed by November and any interest amount, pending on the held up refund, will be payable to the taxpayer.