Introduction
It is officially that time of the year when office WhatsApp groups are overflowing with ITR concerns, and everyone is awaiting their refund. If you are someone who has applied for an income tax refund for the financial year 2023-24, and it has been 3 months already, chances are that you might need to apply for a refund re-issue.
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What is a Refund Re-issue?
You might be eagerly expecting a notification from your bank confirming that your account has been credited with the refund. However, instead of that message, you receive a notification from the Income Tax Department or the refund issuer bank informing you that your refund has been cancelled.
This is when you apply for a refund re-issue.
A refund re-issue occurs when your Income Tax Return is processed but refund is not received. Under such circumstances, a refund re-issue request is placed with the Income Tax Department to re-issue your refund.
However, before you do that, you must ensure that your bank account is pre-validated and that there are no other hurdles between you and your IT return. If you are not careful about this, you might be denied a refund once again.
Differences between Refund Re-issue Request and Initial Refund Request
You might still be wondering how the refund re-issue is different from a general refund request.
The only difference between these two is that a refund request is already made in the Income Tax Return filing itself for the financial year 2023-24. In contrast, the refund re-issue request can only be made after the initial refund request is denied/cancelled.
Reasons Behind Refund Failure
Now, there are multiple reasons why your refund request could be denied in the first place.
Usually, all refunds are completed within 90 days of verification of Income Tax Return on the portal. However, in the case of the following anomalies, they might be rejected:
- Providing wrong bank account details such as wrong Account Number, IFSC code, MICR number, etc.
- Unlinked PAN and Aadhaar card information
- Incomplete or pending KYC of the bank account holder
- The bank account given is not a current or a savings account
- The bank account mentioned during filing is non-operational at the time of processing the return
- The bank account is not pre-validated from the e-filing portal
A Step-by-step Guide to Applying for Refund Re-issue
Once you have received a message saying that your return has been cancelled, you might need to investigate why this has happened in the first place. After re-checking all your details and pre-validated information on the portal, make corrections wherever necessary before filing a refund re-issue request.
How to Get a Refund?
To get your refund after the second round of verification, follow the steps below:
Step 1: Go to the Income Tax e-filing portal.
Step 2: Login using your user ID and password.
Step 3: Click on the ‘Service’ menu and select ‘Refund Re-issue Request’.
Step 5: Select the current/desired year for which you want to submit the request from the list of financial years that will pop up on the screen.
Step 6: Select your pre-validated bank account where you want to receive the refund.
Step 7: Click on ‘Proceed for Verification’.
Step 8: Verify using your preferred document with e-verification methods.
Total Time Needed for a Refund Re-issue
After the refund re-issue request is submitted, it takes somewhere around four to five weeks for the refund to finally show up in your bank account.
Checking the Status of Submitted Refund Re-issue Request
To check the status of your refund re-issue request, simply head over to the ‘Service’ menu provided on the Income Tax Department e-filing portal. Select ‘Refund Re-issue’ from the menu. You will receive the recent update on your refund request.
Be on the lookout for any notification or e-mail from the Income Tax Department regarding the refund procedure or any co-operation required from your end to complete the same.
Summing Up
Delayed or cancelled IT Refund is more common than you think. It is very important to check your details minutely before submitting them on the portal. Even a slight mismatch or spelling error can cost you all this unnecessary anxiety and undesirable delays before getting your IT refund credited to your bank account.
If you’re unsure about any part of the process, feel free to reach out to us. At 1 Finance, our qualified financial advisors are here to guide you through every step of your tax filing and refund process, helping you avoid potential pitfalls and ensuring peace of mind.
