IT Refunds Likely To Come Via SBI

For the purpose of ensuring timely tax refunds, the government has forged alliance with the State Bank of India (SBI) to credit refunds directly to the account of individual tax payers from December, 2007. At the moment, it was tying up with SBI but other banks would offer the same service in future, he added. IT officers would complete the processing of the returns and advise SBI. Subsequently the bank would credit the account of the individual. First this facility would be available to salaried persons only and subsequently we would like to extend it to the other payers as well, Ray said at a meeting at the Merchants'' Chamber of Commerce. Ray said SBI would be charging Rs 5 per entry for normal account clearance and Rs 8 for payment through cheques.

The process was tested as a successful pilot project conducted by SBI and the IT department in Delhi and Patna. Total IT collection in the state till August 31, 2007, was Rs 2,000 crore.