Taxpayers have been urged by the income tax department to “quickly” send online responses so that their refunds which are pending for assessment year 2020-21 can be expedited.

According to a statement by the department, it claimed that as of now, around 93 per cent of refund claims in income tax returns which have been filed for the abovementioned assessment period, have been processed.

“In the past week, refunds of over ₹ 15,269 crore have been issued which will be credited to taxpayers shortly,” the statement said.

The department further said that to expedite pending refunds of 2020-21, it is getting in touch with taxpayers, as their response would be needed for purposes like “prima facie adjustments, defects, adjustment under section 245 and refund failure due to bank account mismatch”.

“The department requests taxpayers to respond online quickly, so that income tax returns (ITRs) in such cases of 2020-21 can be processed expeditiously,” the statement added.

The statement said the income tax department “has also commenced processing of ITRs 1 and 4 for AY 2021-22 and refunds, if any, will be issued directly to the bank account of the taxpayer”.