What to do in case you haven’t received your income tax refund yet and want to check its status? Here's is how to do that.

You must have filed your Income Tax Return for FY2017-18 or AY2018-19 by now, as its due date – which was 31st August, 2018 – has already passed. Still, for many taxpayers the process of return filing may not be fully complete. Yes, you guessed it right! We are talking about those assessees who are now eagerly looking forward for their income tax refund.

Income tax refund is nothing but excess of tax paid by a taxpayer (i.e. you) as compared to the actual tax liability determined at the year-end. Such a situation arises due to many reasons like payment of advance tax, self assessment tax and/or TDS.

“When one files ITR, after declaring all the details regarding income sources, the total liability due or refund is shown. Also, the Income Tax Department sends an intimation about the tax refund on your registered mobile number as well as email-ID,” says CA Abhishek Soni, Founder, tax2win.in.

But what to do in case you haven’t received the refund yet? You cannot simply visit ITO and ask about your refund status. Then whom to ask? Well, take a sigh of relief. You need not go anywhere. All you need is your PAN card number, and your refund status can be simply checked over the Internet. So, today we’ll tell you how to track your income tax refund from anywhere.

There are 2 simple ways to track tax refund:

Tracking Income Tax Refund Using TIN-NSDL Website
Just follow these simple steps & you’ll be able to track refund within a matter of minutes.

1. Visit website https://tin.tin.nsdl.com/oltas/refundstatuslogin.html.
2. Provide the required details such as your PAN, assessment year (for FY2017-18, AY is 2018-19).
3. Enter the Captcha Code as provided in the image and click on Submit button.
4. Your income tax refund status will be shown on the screen.

Important Note: The status of your income tax refund will be updated after a period of 10 days from the date Income Tax Department sends refund to the bank. The banker for ITD is SBI bank.

Tracking Income Tax Refund Using Income Tax Efiling Website
A. Without Login

Follow these simple steps to track refund status.

1. Visit https://www.incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in/home.
2. At the bottom-left, you will find option “ITR Status”, select it.
3. On the directed page, type-in your PAN, ITR Acknowledgement Number & Captcha Code.
4. Click on Submit button.
5. If your refund has been released by the department, then status will be “Return Processed and Refund Paid” (Status Type 1) otherwise it will be “Return Submitted and verified” (Status Type 2).

Follow these simple steps to track refund status.

1. Visit https://www.incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in/home.
2. Login to your account by entering User ID & Password.
3. On the dashboard, click on “View Returns/ Forms” & select option “Income Tax Return”.
4. Now, click on the Acknowledgement Number. The next screen will be shown as below and every information related to your ITR will be shown. Here at the bottom, status of income tax refund will also be visible.

Till now you must have understood the process of tracking your income tax refund status. But even if after days of checking it shows the same status and refund is not credited, then don’t be disheartened. Why? Because, you will get interest on your Income Tax Refund from the Income Tax Department.

Now, let’s get the insight of the provisions of interest on your Income Tax Refund:

“As per Section 244A of the Income Tax Act, you become eligible for interest on refund when the refund amount is 10% or more of the tax amount determined u/s 143(1),” says Soni.

However, the period of interest credited will differ in these 2 cases, which are explained as follows:

Refund Interest Period

ITR filed on or before due date of Section 139(1).

When your tax payment includes TDS or advance tax : Refund period will start from 1 April, 2019 to the date refund is granted.

When there is only self-assessment tax: Refund period will start from the date when ITR is filed to the date refund is granted.

ITR filed after due date

The period of interest will be from the date ITR is filed to the date when refund is granted. (Irrespective of tax liability component).