The income tax refund process could be delayed as the central server of the Income Tax Department has been shut down for maintenance since May 4. It is likely to be operationalised again only by May 25.
“The server has been shut down since it is going through a hardware upgrade and the data in the current hardware have to be migrated to the new one. Till then, the refund process has been stopped,” an I-T official in the know of the development told The Hindu .
According to the officer, the data pertaining to at least 3.5 crore assesses are being migrated and the exercise would take time. “The server’s current hardware, which is about five years old, was overloaded and it had slowed down the functioning.”
The official clarified that the e-returns received at the Central Processing Centre (CPC) at Electronic Centre in Bangalore, could be filed even during the shutdown.
“However, it will be processed only after the central server is back since CPC uses the data from the central server in Delhi. While some data that are currently under consideration is being processed, any fresh data processing has to wait.”
On the many refund claims that were filed last year and are yet to be processed, the official, without elaborating on the reason, said: “All these refunds are put in the queue and will be processed after the server maintenance is completed.”
