If a taxpayer wants to claim income tax refund to get back the excess tax paid in a financial year, filing the Income Tax Return (ITR) is mandatory. Failing to file the ITR in the applicable assessment year will prevent you from getting a tax refund. Neither you can check IT refund status online.

Also Read: How to File ITR Online?

The government now utilize e-transfer facility to process income tax refund. Hence, one can claim a refund by filing the ITR for a specific financial year. It is crucial to ensure that the ITR should be verified electronically via OTP or physically by posting signed ITR-V ^[2] to the Centralized Processing Centre (CPC) within 120 days of filing the ITR. Also, the excess tax paid must be reflected in Form 26AS.

Previously, the taxpayers need to file Form 30 to claim the income tax refund. However, you can claim income tax refund by filing ITR with the right ITR Form based on your income.

For instance, you can file ITR Form 1, also known as Sahaj, if your total income from salary, house property, and other sources is up to Rs. 50 Lakh. You can choose your ITR depending on the source of income you have earned in the financial year.

Read More: ITR Forms

You can check ITR filing status using the link given below:

https://www1.incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in/e-FilingGS/Services/ITRStatusLink.html

You need to enter the PAN details and the acknowledgement number to check the status online. 

You can check income tax status for refund in any of the following ways:

a) Using the NSDL website

b) Using the e-filing portal of IT (Income Tax) Department

In many cases, the income tax refund amount received by the taxpayers is slightly higher than the amount claimed in their ITRs. This difference is the interest they earn on an income tax refund.

As per income tax refund rules ^[3], it is mandatory for the Income Tax Department to pay the interest on the refund if it is 10% or more of the tax paid.

Section 244A of the Income Tax Act governs the income tax refund rules and provides a simple interest at the rate of 0.5% per month or part of the month on the income tax refund amount.

The interest is calculated from April 1 of the applicable assessment year till the date of income tax refund transfer, provided the return of income is furnished on or before the due date. In case the ITR is filed after the due date, the interest is calculated from the return filing date.

Also Read: Income Tax Due Date Extension for FY 2019-20 & AY 2020-21

If you notice any discrepancy in the interest computation over income tax refund, you can raise a request for rectification of the same online through your user account.

The Income Tax Department does its best to ensure that the taxpayers get an income tax refund within 3 to 4 months after July 31 of every assessment year.

In case you do not receive the refund even after 3-4 months, you are advised to connect with the CPC of the IT Department on the following numbers to inquire about the same:

1800 4250 0025

080-2650 0025

However, there can be cases in which a specific tax amount is outstanding against the taxpayer who claims an income tax refund.

For example, you might have tax dues for any of the previous years but are eligible for an income tax refund in another year. In such cases, the IT department may not pay you the income tax refund due to you. 

However, there can be cases in which a specific tax amount is outstanding against the taxpayer who claims an income tax refund.

For example, you might have tax dues for any of the previous years but are eligible for an income tax refund in another year. In such cases, the IT department may not pay you the income tax refund due to you.