New Delhi, Dec. 25 -- Over the past few days, the Income Tax Department has sent bulk emails and SMS notifications to taxpayers, notifying them that their income tax refunds have been placed on hold due to discrepancies detected in their ITR filing.

Several affected taxpayers have flagged the issue online, taking to social media to report that they were not notified earlier and seeking clarification from the tax authorities. Since these alerts have come just days before the deadline to make corrections to ITR filings, many have expressed concern and called for an extension.

"Processing of the said return was held as it was identified under the risk management process on account of certain discrepancies in the claim of refund. An email w...