The Income Tax Department issues income tax refunds to the individuals who have filed excess returns over the income tax liability in a particular financial year or an assessment year.

The Income Tax Department issues income tax refunds to the individuals who have filed excess returns over the income tax liability in a particular financial year or an assessment year. According to www.incometaxindia.gov.in, when the tax paid by the taxpayer is more than the required amount, then the individual is eligible to claim a refund of the excess tax paid. The income tax return can be in the form of advance tax or tax deducted/collected at source or self-assessment tax or payment of tax on regular assessment.

To claim an income tax refund, a taxpayer has to make a claim of refund in Form 30. The claim of income tax refund has to be made within one year from the last day of the assessment year. In order to get the income tax refund, a taxpayer has to file the income tax return in a conventional manner. An individual has to click on the validate button on the ‘Taxes Paid and Verification’ window after filling up the income tax return form.

With this, the applicable income tax refund will be auto-calculated by the system and the refund amount will be reflected. Following this, the final decision on the quantum of refund amount lies with the Income Tax Department after the income tax return gets processed. An individual may get a different refund as against the claimed refund amount as the authenticity is verified by the I-T Department.

The person will receive an intimation from the I-T Department after the successful processing of the return. The taxpayer who is eligible to receive the income tax refund is mandated to receive interest over the refund amount if the income tax refund is delayed from the department’s end.

According to prescribed guidelines by the Income Tax Department, the refund arising to the taxpayer is out of any tax deducted/collected at source or tax paid by way of advance tax, then the taxpayer shall be entitled to interest calculated at the rate of one-half per cent for every month or part of a month. However, no interest shall be payable if the amount of income tax refund is less than 10 per cent of the tax as determined under section 143 (1) or tax determined under regular assessment.