ITR Filed Early, Still waiting for refund: Know Reasons
ITR Filed Early, Still waiting for refund: Know Reasons
The CBDT’s Central Action Plan for 2025–26 focuses on quick issuance of refunds to avoid interest payments for delayed refunds. But, large-scale misuse of deduction and exemption provisions has activated a strict investigation claims, delaying refunds even in Real cases.
Recently, three tax refund related issues sparks. First one was about income refunds surging 474%, from Rs. 83,008 crore in FY14 to Rs. 4.77 lakh crore in FY25. Second one was on the tax department’s nationwide crackdown on fake refund claims. The third was about the Select committee on Income Tax Bill, 2025, recommending that tax refunds claims not to be restricted to a due date.
The above plan aims to enhance the efficiency, transparency, and effectiveness of direct tax administration in India.
Why Delay in Releasing new ITR forms?
On May 30, the excel utilities of the widely use ITR 1 and ITR 4 However, ITR 2 and ITR 3 were launch on July 11, and online filing of ITR 2 was permitted on July 18. The department’s unexpected delays this year are causing not only the tax filing exercise itself to extend beyond July (the due date has been extended until September 15) but also the processing of filed returns and thereafter refunds.
New Updates in New ITR forms
Unlike previously, this year’s ITR forms required a taxpayers reveal details. For example, to claim HRA- in addition to basic salary and dearness allowance, place of work, nature of work the tax payer has to furnish actual HRA received and actual rent paid. Likewise to claim housing and education loan deductions-name of lender/banker, loan account number, total loan amount, date of loan sanction, loan outstanding as of March 31, have to be shared. To claim health/life insurance deductions -name of the insurance company and policy number have to provided. These mentioned details are mainly to verified in the background and processed the tax refunds, if eligible.
Noted Examination
In few cases, high-risk returns will be noted for greater examination and compared to their accuracy with data already available with the department and what the taxpayer disclosed in the return. In such cases, refunds will be retained until the scrutiny process is completed.
Pending past tax demands
From earlier years there are outstanding demands and refund was claimed in the current assessment year’s return, the jurisdictional assessing officer should first modify that refund or a specific part of the refund against the earlier tax demands by issuing a prior notice to the concerned taxpayer
General issues
Beyond this, other issues in the refund process come from file return, form 16 and form 26AS, failure to e-verify his/her filed return within 30 days of the filing or sending duly signed acknowledgment to CPC-Bengaluru by an ordinary post, inaccurate bank account name and number, absence of pre-validated bank account for refund, not updating taxpayer’s profiles on regular basis with active e-mail id and mobile number, and filing returns offline instead online.
How to address undue delays
A taxpayers is expected to wait for four to six weeks for the processing of the filed return. From there, another ten to fifteen days for crediting the refund to the given bank account. Meanwhile, duty rests on the taxpayers to check their registered e–mail id and mobile number for emails and ordinary SMS for department related communications within the given timeframe online. They respond to those queries within given timeframe online.