New Delhi, Jul 3 (IANS): In pursuance of the exercise to meet liquidity needs taxpayers during COVID-19 pandemic, the income tax department has fast tracked its tax refund process and processed 20.44 lakh cases amounting to more than Rs 62,361 crore upto June 30.

The income tax department has worked at breakneck speed to process the refund claims. It has issued tax refunds at a speed of 76 cases per minute from April 8 to June 30, 2020, a CBDT statement said.

"During this period of just 56 weekdays, the Central Board of Direct taxes (CBDT) has issued refunds in more than 20.44 lakh cases amounting to more than Rs 62,361 crore," the statement added.

CBDT said that taxpayers are experiencing this facet of the I-T department which is not only taxpayers' friendly but also that of a facilitator providing liquidity in this hard time of Covid-19 pandemic.

Income tax refunds amounting to Rs. 23,453.57 crore have been issued in 19,07,853 cases to taxpayers and corporate tax refunds amounting to Rs 38,908.37 crore have been issued in 1,36,744 cases to taxpayers during this period.

Refunds of this magnitude and numbers have been issued completely electronically and have been directly deposited into the bank accounts of the taxpayers, CBDT said.

Unlike what used to happen some years ago, in these refund cases no taxpayer had to approach an officer of the department to request for release of refund. They now got refund directly into their bank accounts.

CBDT said that taxpayers should provide immediate response to emails of income tax department so that refunds in their cases too could be processed and issued right away. Such emails of I-T department seek taxpayers to confirm their outstanding demand, their bank accounts number and reconciliation of defect/mismatch prior to issue of refund.

In all such cases, quick responses from the taxpayers would have enabled the I-T Department to process their refunds expeditiously, CBDT said.