Tax · 7 min read
Income tax refund delayed? What to check, in order
Most stuck refunds come down to one of five things, and four of them you can fix yourself from the e-filing portal in minutes.
Krish Dalal
Founder and editor, PaisaExpert. Master's in Business Management, SP Jain School of Global Management, London. · Last updated 2026-09-15
Returns for the financial year that ended in March 2026 are processed under the Income-tax Act, 1961. The new Income-tax Act, 2025 applies from tax year 2026-27 onwards, so none of its changes affect the refund you are waiting for now.
Check these in order
- Is the return e-verified? A return is not processed until it is verified, and a return verified more than 30 days after filing is treated as filed on the date of verification. The e-filing portal shows the verification status against the return.
- Is your bank account pre-validated? Refunds are credited only to a bank account that has been validated on the portal and is linked to your PAN. An account you added but never validated, or one that has since been closed, is the most common reason a processed refund fails.
- Does the name match? The name on the bank account needs to match the name as per your PAN. Small differences in order or spelling are enough to bounce a refund.
- Has the return actually been processed? Until the department sends an intimation, the return is still in the queue. It has until nine months after the end of the financial year in which you filed to process it.
- Has the refund been adjusted? If there is an outstanding demand against you from an earlier year, the department can set your refund against it. It must first tell you and give you a chance to respond.
What each status actually means
| What the portal says | What is going on | What you do |
|---|---|---|
| Submitted and verified | In the queue, not yet processed | Wait. Nothing is wrong yet |
| Processed with refund due | Refund approved, being sent to the bank | Allow a few weeks before worrying |
| Refund failure | The bank rejected the credit | Validate the account, then raise a refund reissue request |
| Adjusted against demand | Set off against an older demand | Check the demand is genuine and respond if it is not |
| Defective return notice | Something in the return is incomplete | Respond within 15 days or the return can be treated as invalid |
Why the refund can come out smaller than you claimed
The department processes your return against what it can see in Form 26AS and the Annual Information Statement. If you claimed credit for tax deducted that your employer or bank never actually deposited against your PAN, or reported income differently from what those statements show, the refund is recalculated downwards. Reconcile the two statements with your return before you assume the department has made a mistake.
The interest you are owed for waiting
Where a refund is due, section 244A pays interest at 0.5 percent for every month or part of a month. For a return filed on time, it generally runs from 1 April of the assessment year until the refund is granted. It is added automatically when the refund is issued, and it is taxable in the year you receive it.
If nothing works
- Raise a grievance through e-Nivaran on the e-filing portal, quoting the acknowledgement number of the return.
- Keep screenshots of the verification status, the bank validation status and any intimation you received.
- If you get no resolution, the grievance route has an escalation path within the department. Keep each reference number.
What to do next
- Log in to the e-filing portal and confirm the return is e-verified.
- Check your bank account is pre-validated and the name matches your PAN.
- Compare Form 26AS and the AIS against the tax credit you claimed.
