If your income tax refund is delayed, here’s who you should contact to resolve your issue

If the time of refund is greatly delayed, along with no update on the online status, contact the Centralised Processing Centre (CPC), which is the entity that handles the processing and refunds concerned with ITR.

Income Tax: Once you have filled out your Income Tax Returns (ITR) and are still in wait of your refund, you’re not alone. Now, many people who pay tax are witnessing constant delays from the Department of Income Tax. However, there are some clear steps that one can take to check the status. In addition, you can also contact the right authorities if it’s due for a long while. Here, we take you through the steps to know your track, along with following up on your pending returns.

Delayed ITR refunds

The taxpayers who expect a refund after filing their Income Tax Returns (ITR) naturally assume that the money will be automatically credited after the processing of their ITR. However, there’s one thing to note: the delays can possibly happen because of a mismatch in the income details, pending authentication, or backlogs under processing within the system of the tax department. This is now a very common issue, and people are questioning whom they should contact for not receiving a refund.

As per the experts in tax, the refunds are commonly issued once the return is processed and verified by the IT department. In addition, for any disparities like incorrect bank details or mismatched Form 16, the processing may be prolonged until the issues are resolved.

Check your refund status

To check the online refund status, log in to the official Income Tax e-filing portal and check the relevant status of the assessment year. If you see the refund status as ‘Refund Returned,’ it means that the refund was issued but bounced back because of some incorrect bank details. In this case, the taxpayer has to update the inputs of bank information and then follow up with the Income Tax Department.

What to do if a return is delayed?

If the time of refund is greatly delayed, along with no update on the online status, contact the Centralised Processing Centre (CPC), which is the entity that handles the processing and refunds concerned with ITR. Here, you can raise grievances through the e-filing portal in the “grievances” section. Not just this, you can also make use of the e-Nivaran portal, which is a central grievance redressal system, to file complaints about the delays.

Must-know tips

There are some tips to avoid potential future delays. These include ensuring that your return displays all the sources of income, deductions, and bank details. In addition, make sure to check the details of your bank account. Alongside, ensure that you respond to the document requests from the tax department readily.