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The new income tax portal has accelerated return processing, with more than 4.5 crore returns already processed and any tax refunds largely released.
Following the initial technical difficulties following the launch of the new Income Tax e-filing portal – extending the Income Tax Return (ITR) filing deadline for assessment year (AY) 2021-22 to December 31, 2021 for those assessees whose income was not subject to tax audit – about 6.25 crore taxpayers were able to successfully file their ITRs electronically.
More importantly, the new portal has accelerated returns processing, with more than 4.5 crore returns already processed and any tax refunds largely released.
So if you have already submitted your ITR and are waiting for the tax refund, then you need to know about the causes of delay and how to deal with such causes.
ITR not verified
Filing of an income statement is not completed until the ITR has been verified. Verification of an ITR can be done electronically or by sending the signed copy of ITR-V to the Centralized Processing Center (CPC) in Bengaluru.
If you have yet to verify your return, you must do so within 120 days of the filing date to ensure that the return is processed and the tax refund released.
For e-verification you can do this via Aadhaar OTP or net banking or DSC (Digital Signature Certificate) or EVC (Electronic Verification Code).
If you wish to verify the return by sending the ITR-V to the CPC, Bengaluru, you must send the signed copy of the ITR-V via regular mail or express mail early enough to ensure that it receives the CPC before the end reached of 120 days from the date of filing.
If you forget to sign the ITR-V or send a photocopy of the signed ITR-V, it will be considered invalid.
Bank account not validated
Merely adding or listing your bank account information in the income tax portal and in your ITR is no longer enough to get the refund amount credited to the bank account listed as the default account. You must validate the bank account to which you want the tax refund to be credited.
An account can only be validated if the mobile number and email address listed as primary contact information in the income tax portal match the mobile number and email address listed on the bank account.
So, in case of a mismatch in the contact details provided as the primary contact details in the income tax portal and the contact details in the bank, make the necessary changes and validate your bank account.
You can update the default bank account listed in the ITR with the validated bank account without revising your return.
Adjustment of amounts due
In the event that there are still unresolved tax claims from the Tax Authorities for past tax years, the refund will only be released after adjustment of the overdue contribution. So in the event that the amounts owed exceed the amount of the tax refund for the current AY, you will not receive a refund unless the issues are resolved to the satisfaction of the Income Tax Department.
To do this, you should regularly check the received messages and emails at the number and ID specified in ITR for signals received from the IT department so that you can respond to messages in a timely manner.
Contact details not updated
If you do not check the indications and do not reply within the time limit, it is assumed that you have nothing to explain and do not agree with the decision of the IT department.
So it is important that you provide the mobile number and email ID that you regularly use as primary contact details in the income tax portal and in your ITR.