Income tax refund not credited? How to check status and understand delays

The income tax (I-T) return filing deadline ended long ago on September 16. The tax department has already processed most of the refunds, but some are still pending. If your refund has not been processed yet, there could be multiple reasons for it. But the good news is that the income tax department will also give you interest on refund at 0.5% per month starting 1 April if you filed your return before 16 September.

If you filed the return after the deadline, then the refund period will start from the date of filing of return.

To be able for the income tax department to process the refund, these three conditions need to be satisfied:

1. There should be a valid user ID and password

2. PAN is linked with the Aadhaar number

3. ITR is filed claiming a refund.

How long does it take to get the refund?

The income tax (I-T) portal claims it normally takes anywhere between 4 to 5 weeks for the refund to be credited to the taxpayer's account.

Meanwhile, if the tax refund is not credited to the account during this duration, the taxpayer must check for communication sent regarding discrepancies in the ITR. One should also look for any mail for notification from the IT department regarding the refund. The taxpayer is also advised to check the refund status of the tax return.

To check your refund status, you can take the following steps:

>> Visit e-filing homepage

>> Enter the user ID and password

>> Now you need to go to the e-file tab and enter income tax returns, and in this vie,w filed returns.

>> Now you can find the refund status for the desired assessment year.

>> If you click on view details, you can also check the complete life cycle of filed tax return.

Meanwhile, if your refund is delayed, there could be numerous reasons for it.

These could be the reasons for the delay in the refund

I. There could be a TDS/TCS credit mismatch.

II. Taxpayers made wrongful deduction claims while filing returns

III. Salaried taxpayer claimed one or more incorrect allowances.

IV. The taxpayer, for any reason, reported the wrong income and filed a defective return

V. The taxpayer claimed fake deductions in the previous year, thus subjecting themselves to stricter checks this time around.

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