The Centralised Processing Centre (CPC) of the income tax department has till February 10 this fiscal issued refunds to the tune of Rs 1.42 lakh crore, up 41.5 percent over the corresponding period last year.

Over 4.19 crore income tax returns have been processed and 1.62 crore refunds have been issued up to February 10 this financial year, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) said on Monday.

As a result of emphasis on expeditious issue of refunds, 92 per cent of all Income Tax returns were processed within 60 days demonstrating CBDT’s commitment for faster and more efficient taxpayer service.

Of all the refunds issued, 92 per cent are below Rs.50,000 due to the high priority given to expeditious issue of refunds to small taxpayers. Only 2 per cent of refunds of value less than Rs. 50,000 are remaining to be issued. Majority of these cases relate to recently filed ITRs or where the taxpayer’s response to the Department is awaited.

Taxpayers reposed faith in CBDT’s e-governance initiatives by filing electronically a whopping 4.01 crore ITRs till 10th February, 2017, representing an increase of 20 per cent over the previous year. Also, more than 60 lakh other online forms were filed with an increase of nearly 41 per cent compared to the previous year.