New Delhi, Sep 5 : As many as 6.98 crore income tax returns (ITRs) have been filed till September 5, out of which 6.84 ITRs have been verified for the assessment year 2023-24, the government said on Tuesday. More than six crore ITRs of assessment year (AY) 2023-24 have been processed out of the verified ITRs as on September 5, the Income Tax Department said, informing that this resulted in the processing of over 88 per cent of the verified ITRs. More than 2.45 crore refunds for assessment year 2023-24 have already been issued, it said. The department's efforts to provide seamless and expeditious taxpayer services are being continuously strengthened. In line with the same, average processing time of ITRs (after verification) has been reduced to 10 days for returns filed for AY 2023-24 compared to 82 days for AY 2019-20 and 16 days for AY 2022-23, official sources said. There are about 14 lakh ITRs for AY 2023-24, which have been filed but are yet to be verified by the taxpayers as on September 4. Failure to verify the returns causes delays in processing as the Return can only be taken up for processing once the verification has been completed by the taxpayer. Taxpayers are urged to complete the verification process immediately. There are about 12 lakh verified ITRs in which further information has been sought by the income tax department, for which requisite communication has been sent to the taxpayers through their registered e-filing accounts. The department further said that there are several cases in which the ITRs have been processed and refunds have also been determined but it is unable to issue them as taxpayers have not yet validated their bank account in which the refund is to be credited. Taxpayers are requested to validate their bank accounts through the e-filing portal, the I-T department said. /IANS