Background:
Income tax department of India has from recent years made income tax refund fully digital and online process. Gone are the days when AO or income tax officials had the power to issue refunds and cash wash given to the taxpayer. Now every refund of income tax department is prima facie assessed digitally by a seperate department called CPC means Centralised Processing Cell.
On 08 April 2020 income tax department has tweeted from its official handle that :
In context of COVID-19 situation & to grant immediate relief to taxpayers, GOI has decided to issue all pending income-tax refunds upto Rs.5 lakh & GST/Custom refunds with immediate effect. – Income Tax Tweet to issue tax refund.
Further it also made followup tweets saying that
In pursuance of Govt’s decision to issue pending income tax refunds upto Rs 5 lakh to help taxpayers in Covid -19 pandemic situation, CBDT has already issued over 10.2 lakh refunds totalling to about Rs 4250 crore as on April 14th 2020. –Income Tax Dept. Followup Tweet.
Also on 13th May 2020 finance minister while announcing 20 lakh crore economic package said that Government will also release refunds of non corporate enities like trusts, cooperative societies, partnership firms, proprietorships on a priority basis.
However still many of the tax payers have not received their tax refunds. In this article we will list down the exact steps to get your income tax refund.
Steps To Follow To Get Your Income Tax Refund:
1. Check whether income tax return is filed for the given AY -
This seems to be a very basic step , but through our 10 years of practice and consultation we know that many people have this misconception that refund would be given of their deducted TDS as it is after year ends, this is totally wrong thinking. Even if your income is below exemption limit or your taxable income does not exceed basic slab rate and still your TDS is deducted still it is very important that you should first file your income tax return for the given assessment year so that it can be processed and refund can be issued to you.
2. Cross check latest 26AS and income tax return's TDS claimed -
While you file income tax return , it is very important to check that TDS reflecting in 26AS is same as you have claimed in your income tax return , not only that you must also confirm that income reflected against that TDS is also same. It is important to note that 26AS can get updated if the TDS deductor means your company or payer revises his TDS return afterwards. Hence if 26AS is updated in the time gap when you file return and it getting processed at IT department then a mismatch can occur. However you can revise your return or rectify the income tax return online.
3. Check your inbox for communication from IT Dept -
After one file’s a income tax refund it is processed by CPC electronically. In this process they check whether prima facie everything is correct and tds claimed is matched as per 26AS , if any mismatch arises then it sends a notice or intimation to rectify the error and resubmit. This mail is sent on your official mail id registered with income tax department and specific time period is given to reply to the same. So its very important to check your inbox if any mail of such kind has been received and to take appropriate action as directed in mail itself.
4. Check status of income tax return online -
Once you file income tax return , it starts reflecting under your online income tax portal under relevant AY . You can always check if its processing stage by clicking on the same. Generally to sum up following would be common processing stages you would see and its meaning
a. Income tax return filed verification pending – This means you have uploaded the income tax return correctly but verification of the same means through otp , demat account , netbanking or through physical signing acknowledgment and posting it to CPC bangalore is still pending. Remember income tax department wont process your return unless it is verified at your end that you only have filed it. If this is not done please do this on priority as it has a time limit of 120 days only after filling return.
b. Income tax return filed and successfully verified – This means all the necessary steps from your end are completed and the return is waiting to be processed at the departments end. All returns as old earlier are electronically processed and those are processed in batches , depending upon the qeue and servers capacity they would be processed.
c. Income tax return under processing – This tag or criteria is a new one , now IT department shows that your income tax return is taken up for processing and soon will complete it. In such case you can check after few days if processing is complete. You can revisit and check the same under same tab.
d. Income tax return processed and intimation sent on mail – Once the department processes the return it will always rather mandatorily send 143(1) intimation to you on your official mail. This initmation clearly states the comparison between how you had filed the return and how the department has processed it. The comparison in columnar format stating each and evey amount and we need to check whether any discrepancy is there between both.
e. Refund / Demand Determined and Transferred – Once processing is completed the department will issue the refund determined through NSDL. All refunds now are compulsorily transferred electronically through online transfer or through cheque. If this is shown you can always go on NSDL Site and check your refund status . Below are the steps to check your refund on NSDL:
1. Visit NSDL website on https://tin.tin.nsdl.com/oltas/refund-status-pan.html
2. Enter your PAN No , AY and Captcha Code.
3. You will get exact stage where is your refund now.
f. Case transferred to Assesing Officer – If this is displayed then the case is somewhat complicated now. Even if not many regular and salaried class receive this , but if their are some serious discrepancies or demand was determined and no reply for the same was received from your side then the case is transferred to AO . AO is income tax department official who assesses your return. Tax payer must in such case find his income tax ward and visit the AO in person to discuss the case and clarify his queries.
5. Raising a greviance:
After following up all the steps it appears to you that still your return is not taken up for processing and nothing is appearing as futher step , then you can always raise a greviance to the department. This option is available on the income tax portal itself by following below steps:
| Steps | Particulars |
| Step 1 | Logon to the ‘e-Filing’ Portal www.incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in |
| Step 2 | Go to the ‘e-Nivaran’ menu located at the upper-middle side of the page -> Click ‘Submit Grievance’. |
| Step 3 | Agree the Grievance Discalaimer. |
| Step 4 | Read all instructions carefully -> Go to ‘Grievance’ tab -> Fill the ‘e-Nivaran’ form -> Click ‘Preview & Submit’ |
Some FAQ:
You can check your income tax return processing status directly on
https://www1.incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in/e-FilingGS/Services/ITRStatusLink.html
You would be needing acknowledgment number of your income tax return and PAN no for checking through this link.
You can check income tax refund on NSDL Website. The link for the same is
https://tin.tin.nsdl.com/oltas/refund-status-pan.html
You would be needing only PAN number to check the refund status for a particular assessment year.
Income tax refund is received after income tax return filed , verified and processed. Please check your processing status by visiting income tax website. If processing done and still not received then please follow 5 steps given above on consultaxx.
You can contat department by one of below options
You can also read our other blogs here : Income tax deductions.
