How To Check Income Tax Refund Status Online?

Imagine that you earned two scoops of ice cream for a chore you did in your school. Now, the school management deducts half a scoop from your earned ice cream just because that is the rule. You can deduct the ice cream scoop from your quota as and when you like. In a week, there are many scoops of ice creams you earned and many ice cream scoops were deducted. When you balance the scoops deducted for a week, you realize that your school has deducted extra half a scoop ice cream. However, since you don’t claim it because of the lengthy procedure, the school management won’t know that they need to give it to you. This is essentially what happens if you do not claim your refunds if you’ve paid additional income tax.

Have you too paid excess tax? Here is how to claim refund

Every year, the working population files income tax returns. But, not many know whether they qualify for income tax returns. Or if they know they do qualify, they don’t know the claiming process.

Procedure To Claim Income Tax Refund

You qualify for an income tax refund when you pay more tax than your actual tax liability. If this is the case, you are eligible for a tax refund. If you’ve calculated your returns accurately and have paid excess tax, then an intimation will be sent to you from the income tax department via SMS or email. This intimation will reflect the refund amount to be credited into your account alone with a ‘refund sequence number’. Still unsure whether you’re eligible. Read on to know your eligibility.

Eligibility To Qualify For Tax Refund

There are multiple criteria for you to be eligible for a tax refund.

• If you have paid more tax than your actual tax liability through regular assessment
• If TDS deducted by your employer is more than your tax liability
• If you have been doubly taxed in a foreign country with which the government of India has an agreement.
• If you have any undeclared investments that can bring you tax benefits

The most important step before you can claim your tax refund is to e-verify your ITR. Here are ways to e-verify your ITR.

How To Claim For Income Tax Refund?

Let’s look at the process of claiming a tax refund

Calculate Income Tax Refund Amount

Want to know if you are eligible for a tax refund? First, you will need to calculate the difference between your actual tax liability and the tax you paid.

If you are yet to file your taxes, you can look at the Steps to file income tax online

Time Taken To Receive A Tax Refund

The processing time for refunds ranges from 2 to 6 months from the date you file your returns online. It may take longer if you’ve filed your returns offline.

Payment Of The Refund Amount

Once your claim is approved, the refund amount will be directly credited to your bank. In case the IT department doesn’t have your bank details, they may clear the amount by cheque.

If you feel that this process is too tiresome, you might want to calculate tax on your income with accuracy

Checking Income Tax Refund Status Online

You can check your income tax refund status by logging NSDL-TIN website. You will have to enter your PAN number and assessment year.

Refund Status – Expired

After you have logged in to your account, you will see a message telling you the refund amount you are eligible for. This message expires within 90 days. After this expiry, the message will be marked as expired or cancelled. You can take the following steps in you come across this message.

• If you physically applied for a refund, contact the concerned assessing officer.
• If you applied online, log in to the income tax department’s e-filing portal and select the ‘Refund Re-Issue’ under the ‘My Account’ tab. You will need to provide your Central Pay Commission Communication number and the Refund Sequence Number.

Refund Status – Refund Returned

If you see a message saying that your refund has been returned, it means that the amount was sent to you via speed post but was returned undelivered. To get your refund re-issued, you can follow the steps given above.

Refund Status – Processed through direct credit mode but failed

If you such a message, it would mean the refund was credited to your bank account but failed for some reasons:

• Your account is not valid
• Operations on your account have been deactivated
• The account is not a bank savings or current bank account
• The account holder is an NRI
• The account holder is deceased

The steps an assesse should take if he/she comes across this message are listed below:

• If you physically applied for a refund, contact the concerned assessing officer and submit your account number and IFSC/MICR code. Your refund will be re-issued once the information is updated.
• If you applied online, log in to the income tax department’s e-filing portal and select the ‘Refund Re-Issue’ under the ‘My Account’ tab. You will need to provide your Central Pay Commission Communication number and the Refund Sequence Number.

Refund Status – Paid (Received the ECS refund advice but account not credited)

In case you have received an ECS refund advice but the amount has not be credited to your account, follow the steps below:

• If your account details are entered correctly, contact your bank and inquire about the status of the transfer using the NEFT UTR number provided or the NECS (National Electronic Clearing Service) sequence number provided on the TIN website.
• If the account details are entered incorrectly, enquire with your bank as to whether the amount was credited to a wrong bank account.

Refund Status – Adjusted against outstanding demand from previous year

There are some cases in which the refund amount is adjusted against any outstanding balances from previous years. If such a message pops up on your screen, you can either check with your Ward Assessing Officer for concerned details or log in to the Income Tax Department’s e-filing portal and select the ‘OPC’ option under ‘Submit Grievance’.

Refund Status – Processed through NECS/NEFT and failed

In some cases, electronically transferred refund payments can fail. In such times, you can contact the concerned Assessing Officer to verify your account details and get your refund re-issued. You may also log in to the e-filing system and check your details and then re-issue a refund request. While you file your taxes, you must also be aware of the amount you are liable to pay and if you are eligible for a refund.

Many times, the confusion about the tax liabilities is due to filing the incorrect ITR form. You can consider to get acquainted with right ITR form for you.