You have filed your income tax return (ITR) duly on time. At the time of filing the return, you realised that you had paid more tax to the government that what was due on your income.
Well, you will get back the extra sum you have paid as tax along with interest. But it could take a while for the income tax refund to reflect in your bank account.
If you are wondering as to why you have not yet received your refund, then you can log in to your e-filing account on the income tax portal to verify the status of the refund due to you.
Steps To Check Income Tax Refund
Here is the step-by-step process to check the status of your income tax refund.
Step 1: To start with, first log in to your e-filing account.
Step 2: Then, go to E-file, and from there to Income Tax Returns (ITR) and View Filed Returns.
Step 3: Now under the relevant assessment year for which you want to check the income tax (IT) refund status, click on ‘View Details.’
Step 4: “If the ITR is processed with a refund due, click on the ‘refund status’ link. The screen will show complete details of your ITR filing, i.e., from the date of ITR filed, ITR e-verification, ITR processed and the date of issuing a refund,” says Archit Gupta, founder and CEO of Cleartax, a tax portal.
Alternatively, you can also verify the income tax refund status through the NSDL website. Here is the step-by-step process for that.
Step 1: Go to tin-NSDL website and click on the ‘Services’ tab. Then select the option, ‘Status of Tax Refunds.’
Step 2: Here, enter your PAN, relevant assessment year, captcha, and submit the details to know the refund status.
What To Do If You Haven’t Received Your Refund Yet?
If you haven’t received your income tax refund, it could be due to either of the following reasons:
- The bank account is not pre-validated. It is now mandatory to pre-validate your bank account from AY2022-2023.
- The name mentioned in the bank details does not match with the details on the PAN card.
- If you have an invalid IFSC code.
- The account that you have mentioned might have become inoperative and/or dormant, dead.
There are two ways by which you can request for a refund from the IT department.
- Log in to the income tax portal: www.incometax.gov.in
- Click on the ‘Services’ tab and select ‘Refund Reissue’ from the drop-down menu.
- Click on the ‘Refund Reissue Request’ button (this tab will get active only in case of accounts where the refund to a taxpayer has failed).
- Choose the ‘Create Refund Reissue Request’ option. Tick the box and confirm the acknowledgment number, and press ‘Continue.’
- Check the ‘Bank Name’ where you expect the refund amount. Tick the box and click on ‘Proceed To Verification.’
- Refund amount will be received only in a validated bank account with a status mentioned as validated.
- You would then have to provide your existing account number as well as the IFSC code of the branch.
- e-Verify with the Aadhaar OTP or digital signature certificate (DSC).
- A message “Submitted Successfully” will pop out along with the ‘Transaction ID.’
- Click on ‘View Refund Reissue Requests’.
There is yet another method by which you could request for a refund.
- Go to ‘Dashboard,’ and click on ‘Pending Actions’.
- It will open to a new tab - ‘Refund Remaining Unpaid’. Now, click on ‘Refund Reissue.’
- You would be directed to a page where you have to click on the ‘Create A Refund Reissue Request’ tab.
