You are only half way done after e-filing your income tax return. It is important to find out if your tax return was successfully submitted. And whether it was acknowledged by the tax department and if it has been processed.

Let’s understand these steps in detail.

Successful submission of your tax return

After you have e-filed your income tax return, you will receive an acknowledgement number from the income tax department. This acknowledgement is sent on your registered email id. Look for an email from ‘ with subject ‘confirmation on submission of IT Return’.

An ITR-V is usually attached in this email which has your acknowledgment number. ITR-V or Income Tax Return - Verification is a document which you need to print and send to CPC, Bangalore to verify your tax returns. This verification has to be done after submission of your return.

If you do not have this email, may be your return was not submitted successfully. And you may have to re-file.

Verification of your tax returns

After submission comes the very critical step of verifying your tax returns. This can be done by printing, signing and sending your ITR-V, which came attached in the acknowledgment email from the tax department. ITR-V has to be sent to the CPC, Bangalore within 120 days of e-filing.

You can also verify your tax returns electronically. It can be done through any one of the means. (a) net banking (b) aadhaar OTP (c) EVC code through department’s website (d) giving bank account details on e-filing website or (e) giving DEMAT account details on income tax e-filing website.

Therefore, either physically send your ITR-V or use any of the e-verification means mentioned above.

Remember that if your tax return has not been verified, it’ll have to be submitted again.

You can check the status of your verification on the tax department’s website. When you login to your account, by clicking on ‘Dashboard’ you’ll be able to see ‘my pending actions’. Check if your ITR-V has been received or not.

Processing of your tax return

After your return has been submitted and successfully verified, it shall now be processed by the tax department. If everything is in order, an intimation is received under section 143(1). Sometimes this intimation may list the amounts where the tax department does not agree with your return. Or confirm your refund.

If your refund has been processed but no intimation has been received do not worry, as refund credit is itself proof that the department has processed your tax return and therefore no action is required.

When no intimation is received

Now comes the very peculiar case, where no intimation is received by you. What should you do in such a case? Do make sure, your submission was acknowledged and you have an acknowledgement number. Check the status of ITR-V receipt on the tax department website. If you have not verified your return or it wasn’t verified timely, you must file a fresh return.

It may be possible that the department sent you an intimation but you didn’t see it. You can go to the tax filing website and ask for the intimation to be resent to you.

Login to the income tax department website and click on ‘My Account’. Now click on Request for intimation u/s 143(1)/154. The following screen will appear and you can select your assessment year and the manner in which you want to re-receive the intimation.