Centre has said that tax refund claims worth over Rs 1.5 lakh crore for various assessment years were pending with the Income-Tax Department. This was informed by Minister of State for Finance Jayant Sinha in a written reply to the Lok Sabha yesterday. <br/><br/>He said, the processing of income-tax returns, including returns with refund claims, is continuously taking place. The Minister said, a major part of the pending refunds pertains to current year where returns have been filed in last few months. Mr Sinha said, in the past several years, massive computerisation of various functions of the department has reduced compliance burden and grievances.