ITR filing: Five income tax refund rules you should know

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ITR refund: Due date for income tax return (ITR) filing is 31st July 2023. Who is entitled to get a refund, what are the taxation rules of ITR? And how to claim your refund? In this article, I wish to discuss various aspects of income tax refund under the Income Tax Act.

A taxpayer is entitled to claim an income tax refund when the taxes paid on his behalf are more than his tax liability. The taxes paid by and on behalf of the taxpayer includes tax deducted at sources (TDS), tax collected at source (TCS) as well as taxes paid by the taxpayer himself like advance tax, and self-assessment tax.

In case you are entitled to a refund due to excess taxes paid over your actual liability, the refund does not come automatically but you have to file your ITR for claiming it. While filing your ITR for claiming a refund, please verify that the tax credit is visible in form no. 26AS. It is advisable not only to verify the details of all the tax credits available to you but also all the incomes which are shown Annual Information Statement (AIS). Since the income tax refunds are directly credited to your bank account. I would advise you to ensure that the bank account is validated while filing the ITR.

While submitting your ITR for claiming the income tax refund, you have to include all your income and claim various exemptions and deductions available to you. In case the taxes deducted/collected as well as paid by the taxpayer exceed the tax liability worked out while filing the ITR, you will get the refund after your ITR is processed. Please note that the refund does not come instantly but will be issued to you after the details of taxes already paid are verified by the income tax department from the information available with it.

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