Alert Taxpayers! IT Department Plans to Reduce Income Tax Refund Processing Time

Waiting for your refund is full of frustration. We have no clue when they are exactly going to be credited. Sometimes, it takes more than the applicable time for the refund processing to complete. Presently, the processing time benchmarked by the Govt is 16 days. However, as per a report in Business Standard, the Government is planning to reduce this time by ten days during this fiscal year only.

IT Department to Reduce Income Tax Refund Processing Average Time

“We have been receiving several queries for refund status, and therefore, this will be a good move to expedite the payout to taxpayers who have a refund due after e-filing. A large number of taxpayers filed in time, and therefore, there is an expectation for refunds to be processed sooner,” said Archit Gupta, CEO Clear, quoted by Mint.

How Much Time Does it Take Tax Refund to Get Credited?

The tax refunds cannot be processed instantly. The IT Department cannot just send the refunds immediately after you filed the ITR and paid taxes. The authority is required to verify your paid taxes to calculate the refunds and disburse them.

“Normally, it takes 20-45 days for the refund to reach you after filing and verifying your ITR. However, this FY 2022-23, the tax department has expedited the processing of Income Tax Returns (ITRs) using advanced technology. As a result, the average processing time has been impressively reduced to only 16 days,” said Abhishek Soni, Co-founder of Tax2win, quoted by livemint.

Also read:

GST Form DRC-01C: Everything You Need To Know About ITC Mismatch Intimations

Record-Breaking ITR Report

In 2023, India made a new record till July 31, 2023, as more than 6.77 crore ITRs were filed for AY 2023-24. Compared to AY 2022-23, there was an increase of 16.1% in total ITR filed till July 31, 2023.
How to Check the Income Tax Refund Status Online?

Follow these steps:

• First, visit the official Income Tax Portal.
• Click on the Login option given in the top right corner.
• Now, log in using your USER ID (PAN number), password and the captcha code.
• Tap on the View Returns / Forms option.
• Next, click on ‘Select An Option’ and select the ‘Income tax Returns’ option as the drop-down menu opens.
• Enter your assessment year and submit it.
• Select the applicable ITR acknowledgement number of which you want to check the status.