Nirmala Sitharaman Urges CBDT to Clear Tax Grievance Backlog and Speed Up Refunds

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has asked the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) to quickly reduce the backlog of complaints in systems like CPGRAMS and e-Nivaran. While leading a meeting with senior Income Tax officials, she said that solving taxpayer issues on time is key for transparent and efficient governance.

The Finance Minister was updated on the department’s performance. Out of 1,60,229 total complaints received in the current financial year, 1,31,844 were resolved by June 17—an 82.28% disposal rate. Sitharaman said this needs to improve further to build more trust with taxpayers.

Tax refunds have also seen good growth. Refunds for 2025-26 went up by 58.04% compared to last year. This includes over Rs 23,000 crore issued through ‘Order Giving Effects’ and more than Rs 10,000 crore under rectifications. The Minister stressed the importance of quick refund processing to keep taxpayers satisfied.

Sitharaman also asked officials to speed up the resolution of over 5.77 lakh pending tax appeals, including 2.25 lakh cases set to be cleared this year. These appeals involve disputed amounts worth over Rs 10 lakh crore. She noted that some cases have already been withdrawn or not filed due to higher monetary limits for appeals.

As per the Union Budget 2024-25 changes, the new appeal limits are now Rs 60 lakh for ITAT, Rs 2 crore for High Courts, and Rs 5 crore for the Supreme Court. Sitharaman told officers to identify and withdraw all appeals below these new limits within three months.

She also asked the department to strengthen recent reforms like faceless assessments, e-verification, tax exemptions, and digital services. These steps aim to give real benefits to taxpayers and reduce the need for long legal battles.