Taxpayers can avail refunds by filing their income tax returns. They need to furnish documentation proof about their Income and deduction details in the returns. It is mandatory to file the returns to claim the refund.

Once the returns are filed, the IT department will verifies the returns and confirms whether one is eligible for a refund. The tax department processes the refund only after the return is e-verified by the taxpayer. Usually, it takes 25-60 days from the date of e-verification for the refund to be credited.

When a taxpayer claims a refund in his return of income, the tax department processes such return and the taxpayer would receive an intimation from CPC under section 143(1) which will confirm the amount of refund that the taxpayer is eligible to receive.

The IT department has issued refunds of more than ₹1.67 lakh crore to 1.87 crore taxpayers so far this fiscal till 7 February. This includes 1.48 crore refunds of Assessment year 2021-22 (fiscal ending March 2021) amounting to ₹28,704.38 crore.

Here's how to check the income tax refund status online

It may come in handy that the taxpayers know their PAN number and the assessment year for which they seek to check their refund status. There are two different ways by which one can check the refund online

Step 1: Taxpayers need to visit the new income tax e-filing portal

Step 2: Log into the account by entering the user id, password, and the “captcha" and then click on “login".

Step 3: Click on “view returns/forms"

Step 4: Enter “Income Tax Returns" against “Select an option" and the relevant Assessment Year(AY) and click on “Submit" and one can see the refund status.

Using NSDL portal

Step 1: Visit the NSDL website for checking of the refund status

Step 2: Feed in details of PAN, the Assessment Year and then click on “Submit".

Step 3: The website shows the refund status of the taxpayers