ANALYSIS OF INCOME TAX REFUNDS DURIGN FIRST FORTNIGHT OF April 2011.

[C.A. DEV KUMAR KOTHARI]

ANALYSIS OF INCOME TAX REFUNDS DURIGN FIRST FORTNIGHT OF April 2011.

Communication from Chairman CBDT:

 Status of Income tax Refund issued from April 1 to 14, 2011

From the desk of Chairman, CBDT S.N. 35/April 15, 2011

CBDT compliments one & all for their profound sincerity & deep commitment in issuing record number of refunds in the first 14 days of April 2011 & is confident that the remaining refunds would be issued by 20th April 2011.

Status of refunds issued from April 1 to 14, 2011

RCC	No. of Refunds	Refund Amount in Crs	Refunds entered but not processed	Refund amount entered but not processed (cr)
DELHI	1,06,389	2,716	74,363	2,803
JAIPUR	42,226	49	16,477	144
BANGLORE	40,927	43	51,580	3,114
AHMEDABAD	39,918	51	21,884	328
CHENNAI	36,910	40	27,715	1,655
PUNE	34,220	32	57,820	636
PATIALA	28,155	25	12,103	212
HYDERABAD	27,313	281	40,740	989
KOLKATA	24,877	24	29,256	1,218
ROHTAK	23,483	22	26,160	301
MEERUT	20,916	19	34,488	370
BARODA	20,172	27	10,960	173
NAGPUR	19,766	20	9,325	114
MUMBAI	18,001	70	50,945	12,521
JODHPUR	16,629	15	16,420	170
MADURAI	16,491	17	10,381	97
BHOPAL	15,754	19	27,000	165
ALLAHABAD	12,244	13	6,858	59
RANCHI	11,919	11	11,644	170
NASIK	11,807	16	10,818	56
JABALPUR	10,904	11	31,791	175
VISHAKAPATANAM	9,578	12	12,429	1,176
LUCKNOW	8,623	8	15,423	246
COIMBATORE	8,608	12	3,361	46
SURAT	8,267	10	10,870	64
PATNA	7,644	8	10,860	56
AGRA	6,495	5	8,844	34
BHUBHNESWAR	6,268	6	24,099	514
KOLHAPUR	6,252	5	3,963	26
SHILONG	6,195	7	7,049	661
RAJKOT	4,361	4	12,329	73
COCHIN	4,048	4	14,317	179
AMRITSAR	3,653	3	6,978	63
KANPUR	3,196	2	9,870	41
TRIVANDRUM	1,379	1	22,526	114
JALANDHAR	231	0	8,431	55
Total	6,63,819	3,609	7,50,077	28,821

Most of the regions have done quite well. Few regions, especially Delhi, through meticulous planning & effective management of resources have done exceedingly well. However, few regions continue to lag behind. All the CCITs & CITs of these regions are once again advised to ensure to clear all refunds by April 20 2011.

An analysis of the communication of the Chairman CBDT:

Analysis on all India basis (based on above table):

Number wise cases in which refund has been processed are 46% and unprocessed are 54%

Amount wise cases in which refund has been processed are just 11.12%.

Amount wise cases in which refunds have not been processed are staggering   88.88%

Average refunded per case is very low at Rs.54368/- 

Average of refunds entered but not processed per case is very high at Rs.3, 84,241/-

This shows that in fact refund have been processed and actually granted in cases where refund amount was lower and refunds of larger amounts have not been processed.

Market grapevine is that in many cases refunds have not been granted fully. Even amount of refund claimed which is duly supported by report in form 26AS have not been granted and refund of very lower amounts have been sent without giving any reason or intimation. Therefore, the tax payer is in dark as to how the amount of refund has been reduced substantially.

From the table given above we find some analytical figures for all India and also for some important regions as follows:

RCC   1.	No. of Refunds   2.	Refund Amount in Crs   3.	Refunds entered but not processed   4.	Refund amount entered but not processed (cr) 5.	Total nos. of refunds 2+4= 6	Total amount of refunds found Rs. Cr. 3+5= 7	Refunded Percent of total numbers	Amount refunded as percentage of total
Total	6,63,819	3,609	7,50,077	28,821	1413896	32430	46%	11.12%
DELHI	1,06,389	2,716	74,363	2,803	180752	5519	58.85%	49.21%
BANGLORE	40,927	43	51,580	3,114	92507	3157	44.24%	1.36%
KOLKATA	24,877	24	29,256	1,218	54133	1242	45.95%	1.93%
CHENNAI	36,910	40	27,715	1,655	64625	1695	57.11%	2.36%
MUMBAI	18,001	70	50,945	12,521	68946	12591	26.11%	0.56%
MEERUT	20,916	19	34,488	370	55404	389	37.75%	5.13%
RANCHI	11,919	11	11,644	170	23563	181	50.58%	6.07%
VISHAKAPATANAM	9,578	12	12,429	1,176	22007	1188	43.52%	1.01%
BHUBHNESWAR	6,268	6	24,099	514	30367	520	20.64%	1.15%
COCHIN	4,048	4	14,317	179	18365	183	22.04%	2.19%
SHILONG	6,195	7	7,049	661	13244	667	46.77%	1.04%

We find that Delhi has done best in terms of proportionate numbers as well as amount refunded. In many regions the amount processed / refunded is very low even less than 2% of total amount found refundable. Lower processing or actual refunds can be considered as an indication that everything is not in good health and there may be fiscal pressure due to higher refunds caused because of high TDS, forced tax collection etc.