NEW DELHI : The Finance Ministry has issued a verbal directive to the Income Tax Department to hold back Income Tax refunds of tax-payees except for those in small amounts of a few thousands.
The move, in addition to the substantial cut in the plan expenditure this year, is to ensure the government’s fiscal deficit for the year is pegged down to 4.8 per cent of the gross domestic product (GDP) to make a false claim of a brighter economy, a financial daily said.
It said small I-T refunds are being cleared but the big ones — those running into lakhs of rupees — are being held back for now. The middle class taxpayee need not worry as an official said more than 80 per cent of the refunds are being paid.
