Every taxpayer in India with an annual income beyond a certain limit has to pay income tax to the government. For that purpose, you need to file an Income Tax Return (ITR) form containing details about your earnings, expenses, tax exemptions, taxability, refunds, etc.
Once you have verified and filed your ITR, the Income Tax Department processes it after assessing the information provided in the form. When the processing is completed, the Income Tax authorities will send you an intimation notice under Section 143 (1) of the Income Tax Act.
An intimation notice informs whether your return is approved or if there is a refund or additional tax demand. You are eligible to get a refund from tax authorities if you have paid taxes in excess of your tax liability. To track your refund, you need to check your ITR status on the IT portal. Read on to learn how to check the status of the ITR refund.
Before learning how to check the ITR status, you must understand if you are eligible to file a refund. If the amount paid as taxes during an assessment year exceeds your tax liabilities, you can claim an income tax refund.
The following are a few reasons you may have paid excess taxes:
The self-assessed advance tax paid exceeds your tax liability
The employer deducted a higher TDS amount from your salary
Miscalculation of tax liability resulting in a higher payout
Double taxation of income you earned from abroad
Here are a few types of income tax refund status along with some measures you can implement to rectify the same.
Status |
Indication |
Not Determined |
Implies that the IT Department was unable to process your tax returns because the refundable amount could not be determined. All you have to do is recheck your status after a week. |
No e-filing for an assessment year |
Indicates that you have not filed your returns for that assessment year |
No Demand No Refund |
Means the deducted tax amount is accurate and there is no refund needed. You may recheck and revise your income tax return to ensure you have entered the correct details |
Rectification processed, demand determined |
Means your request for IT refund has been accepted. However, you may have to pay additional tax within a period of 30 days from the issuance of notice. All you have to do is cross-check your income tax return filing. |
Contact Jurisdictional Assessing Officer |
Implies that the IT department needs a few clarifications on your IT details. You can contact your Assessing Officer within the jurisdiction. |
Before delving into the process of claiming a refund, you need to understand the calculation involved in determining the income tax refund. Using the formula mentioned here, you can easily calculate the IT refund after taking into account all deductions and exemptions.
Here, total tax includes any type of advance tax, TCS, TDS and your self-assessment tax. If you have paid higher taxes in an assessment year, you can claim a refund from the Income Tax Department. You will have to make a request for a refund when filing your income tax returns for the year.
While you can file your ITR 1 and ITR 4 forms online, you can also use the JSON utility to file your return. It is a file format that lets you download or import your data to an offline utility. This offline utility is for taxpayers who prefer filing their returns via offline mode.
The Income Tax Department has started providing pre-filled ITRs on its portal. However, due to constant irregularities in the working of the website, it is advisable to check if the pre-filled details are accurate. While filing your ITR, you can check your advance tax payments under Form 26AS.
If your advance tax payments as per Form 26AS are higher than your tax liability, the assessment officer will process your request for a refund. In addition, you can also file Form 30 to review your tax payout against your tax obligations.
Once you have requested an ITR refund, you can carry out an ITR status check online to track your refund.
If you have filed a claim for an income tax refund, you can check its status either through the Income Tax portal or the NSDL website. Here is how to check the ITR refund status on the Income Tax Department portal:
Go to the home page of the Income Tax Department portal at https://www.incometax.gov.in/iec/foportal/
Select the option ‘ITR Status’ on the left side of the homepage
Enter the acknowledgement number and your registered mobile number
Enter the assessment year and submit
Click on the option with the acknowledgement number you are searching for to view your ITR refund status
Alternatively, you can also check the ITR return status online through the NSDL website. Here is how to check the ITR refund status online using the NSDL website:
Visit this website at tin.tin.nsdl.com/oltas/refundstatuslogin.html
Enter your PAN number along with the assessment year
Enter the captcha code and hit the submit button to check your ITR refund status
You can check your ITR refund status online through the Income Tax Department Portal or the NSDL website.
You can claim a refund while filing the Income Tax Return for the assessment year 2022-23. The due date for filing an ITR for individuals, HUFs, companies and firms not requiring audit is July 31, 2023.
Usually, it takes 20-45 days for your ITR refund to get credited to your account.
You can check your ITR refund status online on the Income Tax Department portal. All you have to do is click on the ITR Status available on the homepage. Then, click on the ‘View Returns/Forms’ tab. Enter the acknowledgement number and your mobile number. After this, key in the assessment year and submit to check your ITR refund status.
Alternatively, you can also complete your ITR status check online through the NSDL website. All you have to do is enter PAN details and the assessment year for your ITR status check.