Ruling out the extension of the July 31 deadline for filing income tax returns, income tax authorities on Monday said that special counters will be opened from July 28 onwards to meet the eleventh hour rush.

Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) spokesman AK Sinha told reporters that there would not be an extension of last date, but special arrangements would be made in Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore and Kolkata for filing of I-T returns.

In Delhi, special arrangements would be made from July 28-31 to receive income tax returns, he said, adding that it was left to chief commissioners in other major cities to make necessary arrangements for this purpose.

Though July 29 and July 30 being Saturday and Sunday, the counters would function for the convenience of the public for filing I-T returns, he said appealing to tax-payers file returns from tomorrow onwards.

Regarding spot refunds for senior citizens, he said since they would be computer-generated from this year, the facility would be available only in those places where computer linkage could be established.

To a question, he asserted that tax department has been mandated to process all income tax refunds within four months of filing and at any cost assessees should get refunds before March 31.

There is no possibility of delay in refunds as it would be totally computer-generated, he said. However, there could be some delay in the refunds reaching the doorsteps of the assessees as despatch would still be done manually, he said.