According to the new report of the Income Tax Department, the refund of crores of taxpayers is stuck. Taxpayers had filed income tax returns till July 31, but their refund has not come till now. Know what is the reason and what to do if your refund is also stuck.
Delay in Income Tax Return Processing
According to the data of the Ministry of Finance, according to the data of the Income Tax Department, 74,528,432 income tax returns were filed, out of which only 72,260,351 have been verified.
Of these, 57,160,088 returns have been processed, which is about 79% of the total verified returns. But there are still 15,100,263 taxpayers whose income tax returns are waiting to be processed.
Many of these taxpayers are waiting for tax refunds after the income tax return is processed. July 31, 2024, was the last date for filing income tax returns. About 70 lakh (69.92 lakh) income tax returns were filed on this day.
Refund delay
Refunds are also getting delayed. The government has said that the payment of personal income tax refunds is getting delayed as compared to corporate tax.
In the financial year 2023-24, Rs 3,91,828 crore was recovered as personal income tax, out of which a refund of Rs 47,482 crore was issued.
While personal income tax of Rs 4,81,876 crore has been recovered so far in this financial year, only Rs 34,546 crore has been issued as refund.
That is, during this period 27.24 percent less refund has been given as compared to the previous financial year.
What to do if your refund is stuck
If your income tax return processing is getting delayed or a refund has not been received, then you can follow these steps:
Go to the website of the Income Tax Department.
Log in to your e-filing account.
Check the processing status of your return.
Correct any errors or omissions.
Contact the Income Tax Department helpline number.
Response from the Income Tax Department
The Finance Ministry has stated that several reasons are responsible for the delay in income tax return processing, such as complex returns, errors, and lack of documents. The government has assured that they are working to address these issues and will soon complete the processing of all returns.