Income tax refunds: A look at mistakes you need to steer clear of

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Taxpayers look forward to getting refunds after filing their tax returns but sometimes due to some mistakes, they don’t get the refund money on time.

With a slew of measures taken by the tax authorities to make the refund process seamless and hassle-free, lack of awareness and proper documentation may prove to be major hindrances in this annual exercise.

The Income Tax department on January 20 said it has issued over Rs 1.76 lakh crore worth refunds to over 1.65 crore taxpayers so far this fiscal.

Personal income tax refunds of Rs 58,631 crore have been issued in 1,62,39,742 cases and corporate tax refunds of Rs 1.17 lakh crore have been issued in 2.11 lakh cases.

Although bank accounts are now linked to an individual’s mobile number, sometimes the details are not updated with the bank and as a result, an individual may not receive the refund amount.

Other follies may include the bank account not being prevalidated, incorrect bank account details, bank account not linked with the PAN (very unlikely).

The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) last year asked taxpayers to provide immediate response to mails so that refunds can be processed faster.

CBDT had said that in the context of the COVID-19 situation and with a view to provide immediate relief to the business entities and individuals, it decided to issue all the pending income-tax refunds up to Rs 5 lakh immediately.