New Delhi, Apr 17 (IANS): The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) on Friday said that Income tax refunds to nearly 8.2 lakh small businesses (proprietors, firms, corporate and trusts) worth Rs 5,204 crore have been issued since April 8.

These income tax refunds would help MSMEs to carry on their business activities without pay cuts and layoffs in Covid-19 pandemic situations, the board said in a statement.

The CBDT said that since the government's decision dated April 8th 2020, I-T department has to date issued nearly 14 lakh refunds up to Rs 5 lakh each in order to help taxpayers in Covid-19 pandemic situation. Keeping its focus on providing relief to the small businesses in MSME sector, CBDT will further issue refunds of Rs 7,760 crore.

The CBDT reiterated its request that in around 1.74 lakh cases, responses are awaited from taxpayers regarding reconciliation with their outstanding tax demand for which a reminder email has been sent asking them to respond within 7 days so that the refund can be processed at the earliest.