Income tax refund AY 25-26: 6 reasons for delays and what you can do about it

Days after the deadline for filing income tax returns (September 16) for AY 25-26, hundreds of taxpayers anxiously wait for their income tax refunds.

However, before getting those sweet refunds, you need to make sure that your ITR form has been accepted for further processing by the Income Tax department.

This is an important step, because the refund process cannot begin without the ITR form being accepted, and then e-verified.

Income tax refunds typically take 4-5 weeks to reach your bank account.

Here are 6 possible reasons why the department may flag your ITR form, delaying the refund process:

1) If the information provided in the ITR form, form 26AS, and AIS does not match, the Income Tax department will immediately flag it. This could even be for something as simple as getting a digit wrong in the IFSC code, or getting a name wrong.

2) E-verification is an important step that needs to be done within 30 days of the ITR form being submitted. The later the e-verification, the later your refund.

3) If your bank account is not linked to your PAN card, you can expect delays in refunds.

4) Similarly, if your Aadhaar card is not linked to your PAN card, delays in refunds can be expected.

5) If you have mentioned high-value transactions in your ITR form, there are chances it could be delayed. 

6) Refunds can also be delayed due to tax audits or scrutiny by the I-T department, in which case you will receive an email from the department beforehand, to which you must respond quickly.

However, if the refund takes longer than 90 days, and the I-T department has not flagged any errors in your application, you're entitled to be repaid the entire refund amount with a 0.5 per cent interest as well, as per Section 244A of the Income Tax Act. You can also contact the I-T department at 1800-103-0025 or 1800-419-0025.

"It has been nearly 85 days days since I filed my return, and the system currently shows the status as 'Return being processed' with no further progress," an X user wrote, in response to his earlier comment claiming that his refund had been delayed for 75 days.

"We have filed in June first week close to 4 months still it’s in process how many months we need to wait?" another user questioned, tagging Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.