The Income Tax Return (ITR) filing season for Assessment Year 2025-26 started a little late this time. Usually, the process of filing returns starts in April every year, but this year, there was a delay in releasing ITR forms and utilities from the Income Tax Department. By the end of May, only the utility of ITR-1 (for salaried taxpayers) and ITR-4 (for businessmen with presumptive taxation) could be released. Offline and online utilities for complex ITR forms like ITR-2 and ITR-3 are not available yet.
The impact of this delay is visible through the number of ITRs filed so far. Many taxpayers are also complaining on social media platforms and tax help forums that they have not received the refund yet, even though weeks have passed since the return was filed. In such a situation, it is important to know how to track the status of the refund, whom to contact if there is a delay, and how to ensure quick payment.
How to check ITR refund status?
Taxpayers should first know whether the refund has been issued or not. There are two easy options for this – first, login to the Income Tax Department website incometax.gov.in and go to the ‘Refund/Demand Status’ section and check the status of your return. Second, the refund status can also be checked by entering the PAN and assessment year information on the NSDL website.
Also read: 100 days into ITR filing season, but utilities still missing — will govt extend the Sept 15 deadline again?
If it appears on the site that the refund has been issued but has not reached the bank account, then double-check the bank account details (such as IFSC code and account number) to see if they are registered and verified. Sometimes the delay in payment is also due to bank verification. Apart from this, the responsibility of payment now lies with the State Bank of India (SBI), so it may be beneficial to contact them as well.
Why is there a delay in issuing tax refunds?
There are many reasons behind the delay in tax refunds. The first major reason is the backend system upgrade of the Income Tax Department. After the budget of April 2024, the department is doing many technical updates to upload the changes in tax slabs and new compliance rules in the system,
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