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The income-tax department that faced flak from many quarters for late payment or non-payment of tax refunds, has been now asked to beef up its automation that does not seem to have helped much for the pending refund claims that could take even four years to be processed. The late payment of refunds has also burdened the exchequer with interest of Rs 5,785 crore for late refunds during 2008-09."A decade of computerisation by the income-tax department has gone by but the pendency rate of refund claims is on rise...we recommend that the department identify the gaps in automation," the official auditor comptroller and auditor general (CAG) said in a report on income-tax refunds that was tabled in the Parliament on Friday.Taxpayers have also been inconvenienced as their refunds were adjusted against outstanding demands, sometimes erroneously, without even informing the taxpayer, the CAG said. It was also found that the weakened controls had lead to wrong refunds that still remain undetected. In fact, examination of the samples selected by the CAG showed that erroneous refunds amounting to Rs 136 crore were sent to people.The comptroller and auditor general has also suggested extension of the refund banker scheme that is only available in some cities now.Along with stressing the need for monthly monitoring of the refunds so that they can capture the delays in the stage of processing, the biggest bottleneck according to the CAG.Moreover, the departmental staff also has to be sensitised to think themselves as the service providers working for the customer satisfaction and the assessment officers should surely follow the automation process.The government has been consistently been aiming to increase its tax base though the tax refunds claimed by tax assessees has always been a concern.However, the tax department has also been claiming that the refund payments have increased and they have been trying to speed-up the refund process.
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