Refund

If the Assessing Officer is satisfied that the amount of tax paid by you for any tax year exceeds the amount with which should actually be charged, then you are entitled to a refund of the excess.¹ Any excess tax you pay can be claimed as a refund.

If you want to claim any refund from the Income Tax Department, you can do so only if you file your ITR. There is no separate procedure as such in order to claim an income tax refund due to you. You can claim tax refund by simply filing the return of income²and verification in the usual manner. The Income Tax Department will then confirm your ITR verification, including details of the refund amount. Your refund claim will either be accepted or rejected. 

The excess tax will generally be refunded to you by crediting it in your bank account through ECS transfer. Sometimes when you are entitled to a refund, the income tax authorities may, instead of paying the refund, set off the refund amount against the sum payable by you to the Income Tax Department. This is done after giving you a written intimation of the action proposed to be taken.³

The Income Tax Department has been making efforts to settle refund claims at the earliest.​​ After applying for a refund, you can check your refund status.

1. Section 431, Income-tax Act, 2025. [↩]
2. Section 433, Income-tax Act, 2025. [↩]
3. Section 438, Income-tax Act, 2025. [↩]