Income Tax Refund Direct Credit to Bank Account

I am one of the sluggish IT employee who doesn’t declare investments/spendings upfront and get more tax deducted from the earnings than it should be. So, every March/April, I bang my head after realizing I paid more income tax to the government. So, I end up writing Income Tax Refund Forms every year and then beg my financial consultant/auditor for updates from Income Tax Department for refund money. Many a times, we had to pay bribes (ranges 10% to 50% of refund money) to get the tax refund back. I paid once 20% bribe to get my refund back. you need to do bribe guys, you can’t speak rules with them, otherwise lose the full money and waste time in running to tax officers.

The latest news from Income Tax Department has come as a big relief for people like me. The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) that governs the income tax and refund department said that refunds would be transferred directly from the department’s online system to taxpayers’ accounts.
So, from October 1st, 2009, the Income Tax (IT) department is crediting tax refunds directly to the bank accounts of taxpayers. From now on, taxpayers will have to mention their account numbers when they file returns. Until now, getting the refund directly credited to their accounts was one of the options available to assesses. It is now mandatory

Those who already opted for Tax refunds through Cheques will continue to get by the same way. The new system is only from current year on. with the new system in place, the assessment tax officer’s job ends at processing the returns and the system automatically calculates the refund amount and instructs the bank to transfer this to the taxpayer’s account. I am sure this new mandatory system will keep the greedy tax officers in check