Read on if you waiting to receive your Income Tax Refund

Published On - September 22, 2015

admin Income Tax Refund, Income-tax Act, 1961

Complying with tax laws and paying taxes may be good for our soul, but receiving a refund brings true happiness.
Before you waste precious time logging into your bank account to check for refund, make sure that your return was ‘e-filed’. The tax department mandated that returns with refunds (starting financial year 2014-15) must only be e-filed. Paper returns with refund are not accepted unless you are more than 80 years old and you are filing ITR-1 or ITR-2. All other returns must be e-filed where income is more than Rs 5lakhs and/or a refund is being claimed.
You can check the status of your refund. You’ll need your PAN number, then choose assessment year 2015-16 (if you are checking for refund status for return filed for income earned in 2014-15). And mention your date of birth as well as your email address.
If your refund is under process, you can check a few things to make sure your refund is processed timely –

  • Make sure you have verified your tax return. Refunds are only processed once a return has been verified. You can also e-verify your tax return. E-verification can only be done via net banking for refund seekers. Or you can send the physical ITR-V the good old way.
  • Do check that you have mentioned your account number where you want to receive refund correctly. It must have atleast 10 digits. Check if your IFSC code is correct, as well as the name of the bank has been mentioned properly. In case of change in ‘Bank Account details’ OR ‘Address Details’, a Rectification should NOT be filed. You can login to www.incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in and go to My Account –> Refund Re-issue request and raise a request for change in the Bank Account/Address details (in case of refund failure).
  • Check your email for a communication from the income tax department. It could be possible that an error has been detected in your tax return, which usually results in an intimation under section 143(1). In this notice the department, puts a value against all the values in your return and recalculates your taxes. You can quickly look up the discrepancies. There could be several reasons for a mismatch. Your TDS may have been not have been allowed to be adjusted. Or there could be a deduction which exceeds specified limit or some other apparent error. Usually, intimations under section 143(1) are all computer generated. You’ll have to take suitable action per the notice, which may be paying up tax dues or filing a rectification.