The Income Tax Department refunds any excess tax it might have taken from any taxpayer during a financial year. It obtains taxes in a variety of forms – as Tax Deducted at Source (TDS) from origins such as Fixed Deposits held by a taxpayer in banks, tax deducted from the salary, advance tax and self-assessment tax paid by individuals before or after the deadline that is usually on July 31 every year.
But all taxpayers are not eligible for a refund. Only those from whom excess amounts have been obtained as tax are paid back the additional amounts over their due amount.
Refund sent to bank account
The refund amount is sent to designated a bank account. Therefore, one must verify the details of the bank account with the IT Department where any refund amount will be credited.
A point to keep in mind is that the processing of refund begins only after the taxpayer has e-verified his/her ITR. Moreover, the refund process can start even before the expiry of the July 31 deadline if the ITR is verified.
Till how long can refund be claimed
Tax experts such as Himadri Mukhopadhyay who is also the secretary of the Income Tax Bar Association, Calcutta say that even those who might file a belated return and penalty can claim income tax refunds for up to a maximum period of six years.
“Usually, the income tax refund is credited within 4 to 5 weeks of filing the return,” says Prasanta Banerjee, a Kolkata-based Income Tax practitioner.
7.28 crore filed ITR before deadline
The Income Tax Department has received ITRs from more than 7.28 crore taxpayers by July 31, 2024. It is higher than the comparable figure of last year by 7.5%.
Some of them are eligible for refunds from the department.
How to check refund
There are ways to know whether any refund has been paid. Simply checking the bank account will tell you. Two, you could get an SMS from the department.
Else you can also log into the e-filing portal and check the refund status.
If the PAN and Aadhaar are linked, you can type in the user ID and password. Then one can visit the
e-file tab > Income Tax Returns > View Filed Returns.
One can check the refund status here.
