Income tax assesseess may soon hope to get their refund amounts earlier than they are used to now. The income tax department will be coming up with a central processing centre in Hyderabad, which may help in early assessment of income tax returns, followed by early refunds. The facility, being developed in association with IT major Infosys, is expected to be inaugurated in a couple of months, said chairman of the central board direct taxes SSN Moorthy. He was in the city-based National Academy of Direct Taxes (NADT) to address the valedictory function of the 61st batch of Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officers.

Moorthy said the processing centre will lead to clearing of refund cases in a couple of months. The process currently takes at least four months and may go even longer.

Revenue secretary P V Bhide, who was the chief guest for the valedictory function, added that the direct tax collections in the country have touched Rs 3,37,000 crore, which is more than the previous year's figure of Rs 3,12,000 crore, but lesser than the budget estimates by Rs 8,000 crore. Most of the tax mop was through surveys and clearing of pending appeals.

The indirect tax collections have been at Rs 2,65,000 crore, which is lesser than the previous year's tally of Rs 2,81,000 crore. The budget estimated of Rs 3,20,000 crore has also been missed.

This is mainly because of the 4% excise duty cut in order to beat the slowdown. With the cut, it was expected that the indirect tax collections would come down to the present level, added Bhide.