Filed your tax return, but yet to receive your refund? Here’s what you should do

So, ideally after filing your return, you should track the refund status after a couple of weeks. To check the status of your refund, log on to www.incometaxindia.gov.in or www.tin-nsdl.com and click on the “Status of Tax Refunds" tab, enter your PAN and the assessment year (AY) for which your refund is pending.

If the refund has already been processed by the department, you will get a message mentioning the mode of payment, a reference number, status and date of refund. If the refund has not been processed or has been declined, the message will say so.

Sometimes tax refunds get delayed because of incorrect bank account details being mentioned in the ITR form or mistakes in calculating the refund.

To rectify incorrect bank details, log in to the e-filing portal (www.incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in). Navigate to “My Account" and click on “Refund re-issue request." Follow the steps and enter the correct details of the bank account and submit the request. You could receive the refund within a few days.

Avoid phishing emails

Phishing emails in the name of the income tax department, especially related to tax refunds, are very common. In most cases it is very difficult to recognize that it’s a fraud email, because domain names mimic those of genuine income tax department email and website addresses. Fraudster also copy the logo, content, color theme and other aspects of the original website. Therefore, you as a taxpayer need to beware of such phishing emails; else, you may end up losing money.

Remember that the tax department does not seek any confidential or financial information of the taxpayer over email. If an email seeks confidential financial information such as bank details, passwords and OTPs, get cautious and double-check the authenticity of such an email and website. Check for the domain name carefully. Mostly, fake emails will have misspelt or incorrect sounding variants of websites of the Income Tax Department. You can also check the message header – for example, in Gmail, it can be viewed by selecting the option ‘Show Original.’

According to guidelines issued by the income tax department, if you have suspicion on any email, it is better not to open attachments. Attachments may contain malicious codes that will infect your computer. Don’t even click on any links and do not enter confidential information such as bank account and credit card details.

If you get any email which you think is fraud, forward such e-mail or website URL to phishing@incometax.gov.in. A copy may also be forwarded to incident@cert-in.org.in. Once you do so, delete such emails.