Haven't received income tax refund yet? Do this

 

The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) issued refunds of over Rs 82,229 crore to more than 53.54 lakh taxpayers between April 2021 and October 4, 2021. From the day of completion of processing of ITR by the Centralized Processing Centre (CPC), tax refunds are received within 20-45 days normally.

Once your income tax return (ITR) is processed, it ideally takes 30-45 days for you to receive your refund. However, there can be many reasons for your refund getting delayed.

Income Tax Refund can be claimed when:
You did not furnish all the investment proofs to your organization. As a result, the amount of taxes deducted by your employer exceeded your actual tax liability for the particular FY.
Excess TDS was deducted on your interest income from bank FDs or bonds.
The advance tax paid by you on self-assessment exceeded your tax liability for the applicable FY as per the regular assessment.
In case of double taxation

How to check Income Tax refund status:

You can check income tax refund status on the National Securities Depository Ltd (NSDL) website, as well as on the Income-tax department’s e-filing portal.

1. On the NSDL website

Step 1: Go to the NSDL website to track refund.
Step 2: The following web page will appear. Fill in the details, including PAN and AY and click ‘Proceed’.
Step 3: Your income tax refund status will be displayed, as depicted in the following image.

2. On e-filing portal:

Step 1: Log into the e-filing portal of Income Tax department by clicking here.
Step 2: Select View Returns/ Forms.
Step 3: Go to ‘My Account’ tab and select ‘Income Tax Returns’. Click submit.
Step 4: Click on the acknowledgement number.
Step 5: A page showing your return details along with income tax refund status will appear.

Haven't received income tax refund yet? Reasons for delay

From the day of completion of processing of ITR by the Centralized Processing Centre (CPC), tax refunds are received within 20-45 days normally. In case there is a mismatch between the tax return filed and the details available with the tax department, refund can be delayed. However, another reason for delay could be if the bank account details mentioned are incorrect.

Reasons why the refund hasn’t reached you and what to do:

1. IT department needs additional documentation to process your refund request: Contact the assessing officer immediately via telephone or post and submit the documentation requested. Get an acknowledgment from the officer on the same.

2. Refund request rejected. As per the IT department, you owe them taxes: You may receive a notice from the department stating the outstanding tax amount. In this case, check all your documents and recalculate the tax liability and refund receivable. If the figures you have filed in the returns form is correct, file a rectification supporting your claim.

If the returns filed is found to be incorrect, pay the outstanding tax demanded by the department within the time limit mentioned in the notice.

3. Refund request found to be incorrect as per the IT department: If the department thinks your refund request is incorrect, a notice will be issued to you explaining why they think it is incorrect. Even if you receive the notice, you can file a rectification to support your claim.

4. Forgot to include a deduction you are eligible for: If the IT department has not started to process your returns, you can go ahead to revise your returns and add the missed out deduction you are eligible for.

5. Bank account details provided to the IT department while filing returns has changed: If the bank account details have changed, communicate the latest account number and MICR code to your assessing officer. The assessing officer will convey this information to the bank and ask to update the money transfer process.

If you haven’t still received your refund, do these things:

1. Review your ITR: In case there is a mismatch between the tax return filed and the details available with the tax department, the refund can be delayed. So, review your ITR to find out if you made a mistake. If you do not get your refunds or receive any communication from the Income Tax department within two months, the first step is to review your ITR.

2. Additional information: In some cases, the Income Tax Department may need additional documentation to process the refund request. In case the department needs additional documentation to process your refund request, contact the assessing officer immediately via telephone or post and submit the documentation requested to make sure your refund request is processed quickly and the amount is credited as soon as possible.

3. Re-evaluate: Sometimes refund requests get rejected if there is an outstanding tax amount and in this case, you may receive a notice from the department stating the outstanding tax amount. If you are facing this situation, check all your documents and recalculate the tax liability and refund receivable. If the figures you have filed in the returns form is correct, file a rectification supporting your claim. If the ITR filed is found to be incorrect, pay the outstanding tax demanded by the department within the time limit mentioned in the notice to get your refund.

4. Mistakes in ITR: If you choose the wrong ITR form, misspell critical personal details or put in wrong information, your refund will get delayed. As per the new procedure laid out by the tax department, income tax refunds are being issued only electronically which means that refunds are credited directly to the bank accounts of the taxpayer. In case the bank account number filled in the tax form is incorrect, the refunds will be delayed till the information is corrected. In case you have made this mistake, you can correct the bank account details online on the income tax department’s portal. It is important that the bank account that you are providing is linked to the permanent account number (PAN).

In case there are mismatches in the figures that you had provided last year and what you did this year, an IT official will look into your records thoroughly to check if you need to share additional details. The I-T department may intimate you with a request to produce additional information.

5. Discrepancy in income or tax amount: If there is any discrepancy in the income from various sources, the refund process may get delayed. This generally happens in case details mentioned in Form 16 do not match with the TDS details in Form 26 AS. Refund also gets delayed where ITR could not be processed due to proposed adjustment under section 143(1)(a) or where it is defective under section 139(9). You will need to file a revised return to ensure that your refund request is honored.

6. Prevalidating the bank account: In order to receive income tax refund, the bank account has to be prevalidated. You can go to the income tax department’s website, log in using your PAN and password, and then go to profile settings. You can easily locate an option to prevalidate your bank account. If your bank is integrated with the e-filing portal, pre-validation will be done directly through electronic verification code (EVC) and net-banking route. You need to give your bank account number, IFSC code, mobile number and email ID linked to that account.

It is worth adding that in case you make an error in your ITR and the department sends a communication, you will receive it only if you have provided correct communication details.

Source:https://www.timesnownews.com/business-economy/personal-finance/income-tax/article/havent-received-income-tax-refund-yet-do-this/823370

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