A taxpayer is eligible to receive an income tax refund if there is more tax pain to the government than actual tax liability. This usually happens when the advance tax, self-assessment tax paid, and/or TDS deducted from the taxpayer is higher than the total tax liability of a taxpayer.

Once your income tax return (ITR) is processed, it ideally takes 30-45 days for you to receive your refund. However, there can be many reasons for your refund not reaching you.

Review your ITR to find out if you made a mistake

If you do not get your refunds or receive any communication from the Income Tax department within two months, you may have to review your ITR to find out if you made a mistake.

2. Department needs additional documentation to process the refund request In case the department needs additional documentation to process the refund request then Contact the assessing officer immediately via telephone or post and submit the documentation requested

3.Refund request rejected

You may receive a notice from the department stating the outstanding tax amount.  In this case, check all your documents and recalculate the tax liability and refund receivable. If the figures you have filed in the returns form is correct, file a rectification supporting your claim.  If the returns filed is found to be incorrect, pay the outstanding tax demanded by the department within the time limit mentioned in the notice.

4. Mistakes in the tax-filing

If you choose a wrong ITR form, misspell critical personal details or put in wrong information, your refund will get delayed as the I-T department will take time to confirm and verify the same. There could also be mismatches in the figures that you had provided last year and what you did this year. In such a scenario, an IT official will look into your records thoroughly to check if you need to share additional details. The I-T department may intimate you with a request to produce additional information.

5. Discrepancy in income or tax amount If there is any discrepancy in the income from various sources, the refund process may get delayed. This generally happens in case details mentioned in Form 16 do not match with the TDS details in Form 26 AS. Refund also gets delayed where ITR could not be processed due to proposed adjustment under section 143(1)(a) or where it is defective under section 139(9).

6. When bank account details provided are Incorrect

If you do not give the correct bank account details, it will be impossible for the department to process your refund even if all other formalities are completed. If the bank account details have changed, communicate the latest account number and MICR code to your assessing officer.

The assessing officer will convey this information to the bank and ask to update the money transfer process.

7. Wrong communication address provided In case you make an error in your ITR and the department sends a communication, you will receive it only if you have provided correct communication details.