The new income tax portal has expedited the return processing, because of which over 4.5 crore returns have already been processed and tax refunds, if any, are mostly released.
After the initial technical problems post the launch of the new Income Tax e-filing portal – because of which the due date of filing Income Tax Return (ITR) for the Assessment Year (AY) 2021-22 was extended till December 31, 2021 for those assessees whose incomes were not subject to tax audit – about 6.25 crore taxpayers were able to e-file their ITRs successfully.
More importantly, the new portal has expedited the return processing, because of which over 4.5 crore returns have already been processed and tax refunds, if any, are mostly released.
So, in case you have already filed your ITR and are waiting for the tax refund, you need to know the causes of delay and how to deal with such causes.
ITR not Verified
Filing of a return of income is complete only after the ITR is verified. Verification of an ITR may be done either electronically or by sending the signed copy of ITR-V to the Centralised Processing Centre (CPC) in Bengaluru.
In case you are yet to verify your return, you need to do it within 120 days from the date of filing of the return to ensure that the return gets processed and the tax refund is released.
For e-verification, you may do it through Aadhaar OTP or net banking or DSC (Digital Signature Certificate) or EVC (Electronic Verification Code).
In case you want to verify the return by sending the ITR-V to the CPC, Bengaluru, you have to send the signed copy of the ITR-V through normal post or speed post early enough to ensure that it reaches the CPC before the end of 120 days from the date of filing.
In case you forget to sign the ITR-V or send a photocopy of the signed ITR-V, it will be considered as invalid.
Bank Account not Validated
Just adding or mentioning your bank account details in the income tax portal and in your ITR is no longer enough to get the refund amount credited in the bank account mentioned as the default account. You need to validate the bank account, in which you want to get the tax refund credited.
An account may only be validated if the mobile number and email ID mentioned as the primary contact details in the income tax portal matches with the mobile number and email ID mentioned in the bank account.
So, in case of any mismatch in the contact details provided as the primary contact details in the income tax portal and the contact details given in bank, make the necessary changes and validate your bank account.
You may update the default bank account mentioned in the ITR with the validated bank account without revising your return.
Adjustment of Past Dues
In case there are some tax payable claims of the Income Tax Department for past Assessment Years remain unresolved, refunds are released only after adjusting the past dues. So, in case the past dues exceed the figure of tax refund for the current AY, you won’t get any refund, unless the issues are resolved with satisfaction of the Income Tax Department.
For this, you need to check the messages and emails received on the number and ID provided in ITR regularly for intimations received from the I-T Department, so that you may reply against notices sent on time.
Contact Details not Updated
If you fail to check the intimations and provide replies within the time limit given for reply, it will be considered that you have nothing to explain and agree with the decision of the I-T Department.
So, it’s important for you to provide the mobile number and email ID that you use regularly as primary contact details in the income tax portal as well as in your ITR.
