IT department speeding up the processing of pending income tax refunds

The government will release pending income tax refunds up to Rs 5 lakh as part of relief measures taken during the COVID-19 crisis. Taxpayers may have unpaid income tax refunds due to IT return remaining unprocessed, mismatch of TDS claims or pending demands of other years. The income tax department is asking taxpayers to check the status of their IT returns and respond to outstanding demands, to enable processing of refund dues.

Taxpayers may have income tax refunds due as reflected in the IT returns filed by them. After the filing, the returns are taken up for processing by the income tax department. At this stage, the returns fail the processing if they are not verified. Hence, taxpayers should check for any unverified returns and verify them with a net banking OTP and Aadhaar OTP, among the other options.

In case the IT return is already processed, but the refund remains unpaid, you should check the status of the return by logging in to the e-filing portal. The refund may remain unpaid because of the pending tax demand of any other years which the department adjusts against it. Or, there may be a mismatch in TDS credits or different amounts during the processing of return whereby the refund gets nullified or reduced.

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After the processing of the return, the department issues an intimation to the taxpayer under section 143(1). You will receive the intimation on the e-mail address provided by you in return filed. Alternatively, you can also download a copy of the intimation from your log-in on the e-filing portal. The intimation details the income tax calculation as per the department against the return filed. You should submit a response against the intimation by agreeing to or disagreeing with the adjustments.

If your case falls under neither unverified return nor processed under section 143(1), you can submit a grievance from your log-in on the e-filing portal. You can ask for speedy processing of IT refund due to you.

Verification of IT returns, processing and responding to intimation under section 143(1) is mandatory for enabling the payment of your tax refunds. 

The income tax department has issued more than 10.2 lakh refunds summing to about Rs 4,250 crore till 14 April 2020. The department is sending e-mails requesting taxpayers to check the status of their pending refunds and respond on the e-filing portal to enable quick payment of refunds.

For any clarifications/feedback on the topic, please contact the writer at sweta.dugar@cleartax.in