The government extended the income tax return (ITR) filing due date by one month till August 31, 2019. Last year also, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) extended the ITR filing last date by a
month to August 31, 2018, for the income tax filers for the financial year 2017-18.
month to August 31, 2018, for the income tax filers for the financial year 2017-18.
People who have already filed their returns are eligible to claim an income tax refund if their I-T returns have exceeded the total income tax liability in a respective financial year. It is an amount which is due to a taxpayer in case he or she pays taxes higher than his actual tax liability. Income Tax Department provides the facility of checking the status of tax refund online. Once the refund is determined, it is processed by the tax department.
"It takes two to three months from the date of e-verification to get the income tax refund. However, sometimes, it gets credited in 15 days also. Therefore, it is advisable that taxpayers should not resort to last-minute or wait till last date (August 31, 2019) to file their income tax return. It should be filed and e-verified as soon as possible since the refund will be processed from the date of e-verification," says Balwant Jain, income tax and investment expert.
The chances of income tax refund arise when a taxpayer files advance income tax returns and the employer deducts tax at source due to which the total income tax paid exceeds the applicable income tax liability in the respective period.
The status of income tax refund can be checked either by income tax e-filing portal or through NSDL website. Taxpayers will be required to mention their permanent account number (PAN) and the assessment year for which they have to track the status of the refund. Worth mentioning here is that the income tax department had announced that it will issue only e-refunds from March 1, 2019. These refunds will be credited only to those bank accounts which are PAN and are pre-validated on the income tax e-filing website, www.incometaxefiling.gov.in.
The process of issuing refunds through cheques has been discontinued. If you want to enable credit of refund directly to your bank account through RTGS/NECS method then the taxpayer is required to provide the respective bank account number, MICR code/IFSC code of the bank branch and communication address.
Income Tax e-filing portal-
Step 1: Go to income tax e-filing portal- incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in.
Step 2: Log in to account by mentioning user ID, password, date of birth (DoB) and the given captcha correctly. Now click on the 'Log in' tab.
Step 3: click on 'View Returns/Forms' tab.
Step 4: Now you have to mention your PAN, select Income Tax Returns and assessment year from the drop-down list and click 'Submit' button.
Step 5: Click on acknowledgment number and you will see income tax refund status.
