Income Tax refund- Process to claim Income tax refund?
Many times it may happen that the taxpayer has paid excess tax as against the tax required to be paid by him. In such a case he is granted refund of the excess tax paid by him. In this article you can gain knowledge about various provisions relating to claim of refund of excess tax paid by the taxpayer.
When the tax paid by the taxpayer (could be in the form of advance tax or tax deducted/collected at source or self-assessment tax or payment of tax on regular assessment) is more than the required amount, he will be eligible to claim refund of the excess tax paid by him.
Many people are very ignorant about their income tax refunds. Even people are unaware that they can check status of their income tax refund online. It is very easy to check you income tax refund online as you just need your permanent account number and the assessment year on the site to access the current position of the tax refund. The tax refunds whenever applicable are made in two different means to all the tax payers:
- RTGS / NECS: In order to enable direct credit of the refund amount to the bank account of the tax payer, the taxpayer’s correct bank A/c (at least 10 digits), MICR/ IFSC code of the bank branch and required communication address is mandatory.
- Paper cheque: The standard paper cheques wherever issued require the current bank account no and the correct address of the tax payer as mandatory information.
An online facility to track the Income Tax Refund status is offered by the Income Tax Department.
Taxpayers can check the status of their refund 10 days after they send the refund. You will be required to enter your PAN number and choose the year of assessment to track.
You will have to finish with the e-filing process to obtain your Income Tax Refund.
In order to check your Income Tax Refund Status Online, you are required to follow the steps below:
Step 1: Log in to the official website of e-filing with User ID, Date of Birth or Date of Incorporation, Password and Captcha.
Step 2: Visit ‘My Account’ and click on ‘Refund/Demand Status’.
Step 3: The details below will be displayed:
- Assessment Year
- Status
- Reason (For failure of refund, if any)
- Mode of payment
There is no specific application form for applying for TDS refund. The taxpayer is only required to file his Income Tax return and in the Income Tax return, the taxpayer would be required to show the computation of his income tax payable and the total TDS which has been deducted.
On furnishing these return, the income tax software will automatically show that TDS is refunded to the taxpayer and TDS would be refunded to the taxpayer in due course.
After the Income tax return has been filed citing that there is a Income Tax refund, it takes a few month for the Income tax officer to sanction your Income Tax refund, However, this TDS refund is issued to the taxpayer along with interest 6% per annum. Interest would only be paid if the refund payable is more than 10% of the total tax payable for that year. This interest would be calculated from the date of filing of return.
At the time of issue of refund an intimation u/s 143(1) would also be sent to the taxpayer showing the computation of the interest paid to him.
In case the taxpayer is satisfied with the intimation, he need not to revert for the same. But in case he is not satisfied with the intimation he should contact his income tax officer.
Most of us wait for the last moments to make our tax investments which leads to incorrect disclosure of investments and further you end up paying more taxes. This extra income tax paid in addition to actual tax liability leads to a situation of tax refund. The process of tax refunds has been a time consuming process over the years. The whole process going online even has not helped a great deal. But if you are expecting a tax refund then it is important to take a few steps which will help you in expediting the process. You can check and provide accurate bank account details like bank account number and also the proper address to get the tax refund directly credited to your account.
In case of excess deduction of tax at source, claim of refund of such excess Tax deduction at source (TDS) can be made by the deductor. The excess amount is refundable as per procedure laid down for refund of Tax deduction at source (TDS) .The difference between the actual payment made by the deductor and the tax deducted at source or deductible, whichever is more will be treated as the excess payment made. This amount is to be first adjusted against any existing tax liability under any of the Direct Tax Acts. After meeting such liability, the balance amount is to be refunded. Below is the tax refund process:
- Filing the return on time is the first and foremost requirement for claiming the Tax refund, by providing the adequate investment details.
- File your return online so that it is processed faster and it doesn’t have to deal with bureaucracy.
- Check your Income tax return status to see if it’s reflecting the tax refund correctly.
- If your Tax return shows Tax refund, filing the return is all you need to do. The IT department will send the refund by post (cheque) or direct credit to your bank account.
- You should provide proper details of bank account like MICR Code, bank account number and also the proper address to get the Tax refund amount directly credited in to your account.
Opt for direct credit so that you don’t have to deal with postal delays.
The taxpayer can also check online whether his TDS refund has been sanctioned by furnishing is PAN No. and the year for which the refund has been sought on the following link:
https://tin.tin.nsdl.com/oltas/refundstatuslogin.html
The refund status can also be tracked by contacting the help desk of SBI on its toll free no. i.e. 18004259760 or through email at itro@sbi.co.in
In the normal course, the person who has paid the tax is entitled to claim the refund of excess tax paid by him. There are certain special cases in which the refund is to be claimed by a person other than the payer. The provisions relating to person entitled to claim refund in certain special cases are given in section 238. As per section 238, following persons are entitled to claim refund
of tax:
Where the income of one person is included in the total income of another person under any provision of the Act (i.e., as per the clubbing provisions, e.g., income of minor child clubbed with the income of parent), the latter shall be entitled to a refund in respect of the clubbed income.
Where through death, incapacity, insolvency, liquidation or other cause, a person is unable to claim or receive any refund due to him, his legal representative or the trustee or guardian or receiver (as the case may be), shall be entitled to claim or receive such refund for the benefit of such person or his estate.
In case you need to file your Income Tax Return, plz visit www.efilingworld.com or whatsapp on 8279436547.