Anupam Rai | 2020-09-23 13:08:12 | Articles| 14

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Importance Note
the thing is keep in mind that if you want to get tds refund then you need to file your ITR for same financial year, ncome tax return filing is mandatory for getting tds refund

When Claim for Income Tax Refund

Every year we file income tax returns (ITRs), but most of us are not sure how the process work of claiming our income tax refund . For the 2019-20 financial year, the latest ITR filing date has been extended from July 31, 2020 to November 30, 2020.

A person can file their tax return offline by uploading the  Excel / Java utility form or by online forms available on income tax website (only ITR 1 & ITR 4 form  can be filed online).

You are eligible to receive an income tax refund when you have paid more taxes to the government than your actual tax liability. This usually happens when the self-assessment tax and advance tax paid/ or TDS deducted from the taxpayer is greater than a taxpayer's total tax liability. know your tds refund status Click here

1. Process to request/ claim refund of income tax
There is no separate procedure as such to claim of the income tax refund . You can claim your tds refund simply by filing your income tax return in the usual way. Make sure your return is electronically verified via aadhar otp number, EVC generated through a bank account or physically verified by posting the signed ITR-V (acknowledgment of receipt) in the Centralized Processing Center (CPC) within the 120 days after filing the return.

Last year, the income tax department started providing pre-loaded ITRs on the online platform ( income tax website ). The ITR form contains information about salary income, interest income (in case TDS is deducted), and other details. If you file an ITR with the Excel utility, you can download the XML file to pre-fill your ITR.

2. What to do if the TDS / ITR refund is not processed in CPC
Many times, your IT return may not have been fully processed by CPC for some reason and no refund has been issued to you. Note that the taxpayer records, for each assessment year, are transferred by CPC to the jurisdictional assessing officer after a particular period of time. A notice will be sent to the taxpayer informing them of the same. Once the files are transferred to the assessing officer, you can follow up for income tax refund by sending a letter to the jurisdictional assessing officer and personal follow-up at regular intervals.

 

3. Interest on the refund of income tax
You may have noticed in many cases that the refund amount received by you is slightly higher than the tax refund amount claimed on your income tax return. This difference represents the interest on the return of income tax. This is payable by the income tax department, if the refund is 10% or more of the tax paid.

Section 244A deals with the interest on the income tax refund and establishes an interest at a rate of 0.5% per month or part of the month on the amount of the refund. Such interest will be calculated from April 1 of the appraisal year until the refund grant date if the refund is due to excess prepaid taxes or TDS. In the event of any discrepancy in the computation of interests, you can submit an online request for their rectification by logging into your account.

4. How to check the status of the refund?
You can check the income tax refund status online using the following procedure:

To access the refund pages.
Enter PAN, relevant assessment year and captcha image and click "submit"
You will see the status of the refund on the next screen
You can also access the Refund payment details reflected on Form 26AS in the "Tax Credit Statement".

5. Adjustment of refund against pending demand

The Department may not pay you all refunds owed to you. If you have taxes due for any of the preceding years and a refund due in another year, the income tax department may adjust the refund accordingly. However, the department cannot do so without giving the taxpayer an opportunity to explain why such an adjustment should not be made. Therefore, the tax department must send you an indication under Section 245 regarding its intent to adjust along with instructions on possible ways to respond to the notice. Section 245 allows the taxpayer 30 days to respond. In the event that there is no response to the notice within the prescribed time limit, the department may proceed with the adjustment based on the notice.

In the event that you disagree with the tax claim raised in the notice for any reason, such as an incorrect calculation, the omission of certain deductions or TDS, etc., you can respond online by following the instructions provided in the notice within 30 days.

6. Refund pending due to incorrect details
Sometimes it happens that you have submitted your ITR with a claim for tax refund but have not received it. the following reasons can be behind it :

1. Once the income tax officer has performed the initial assessment of your verified ITR , and tax officer has determined that no IT refund should be paid to you. tax department will send you after processing your return notice under section 143 (1) of the Income Tax Act the same will be mentioned in notice So if the notice shows a refund that is owed to you, then it will be issued, but if the notice shows a null refund, it means that your refund claim was not accepted as your calculations did not match as per the income tax department's.

2. The income tax department has processed your refund, but you have not received the cheque due to the wrong address or you have not received it due to incorrect bank details or 

If your refund is pending due to incorrect details provided by you, you can request the department to reissue your refund amount after providing the correct bank details.

You must log in to the electronic income tax filing website and apply under the "My Account" tab under the "Service Request" option.

Once you have dome your income tax filing and verified it, you should regularly check the status of your return if you have made a claim for refund on the return. This helps you track the processing of your ITR and the refund (if applicable). It also helps to verify if you have made any mistakes when filing the return.