How do I get an ITR refund and how long does it take?

1When you get a refund

You're due a refund whenever the tax paid for you during the year exceeds your final liability. The most common situations:

• TDS was deducted on your salary but your final tax (after deductions) is lower
• TDS was cut on bank/FD interest even though your total income is below the taxable limit
• You paid advance tax or self-assessment tax that turned out higher than needed
• TDS on a property sale exceeded the actual capital-gains tax

2How to claim your refund — step by step

A refund isn't automatic; it flows from filing your return correctly:

1. File the correct ITR form, reporting all income and matching the TDS in Form 26AS/AIS.
2. Pre-validate your bank account on the income-tax portal and link your PAN to it — refunds only go to a pre-validated account.
3. E-verify the return within 30 days (Aadhaar OTP is fastest); an unverified return isn't processed.
4. The department processes the return under Section 143(1) and credits the refund directly to your bank account.

3How long it takes

For most straightforward returns, the refund arrives within 7 to 30 days of e-verification — sometimes within days. Returns that need closer review, or that have mismatches, can take a few months. If the department holds your refund beyond the normal period, it pays you interest at 0.5% per month under Section 244A.

4If your refund is delayed or failed

Check the status on the income-tax portal (Services → Know Your Refund Status) or the NSDL/Protean refund page. The usual causes and fixes:

• 'Refund failed' → bank account not pre-validated or PAN not linked. Validate it and raise a refund-reissue request.
• Mismatch between your ITR and AIS/Form 26AS → the return is under review; respond to any query.
• 'Adjusted against demand' → an old tax demand is being set off under Section 245; check and respond if you disagree.
• Return not e-verified → verify it, as processing only starts after verification.

5When the department keeps your refund against an old demand

A refund can be adjusted against tax you are said to owe from an earlier year, and this is the reason a great many refunds simply never arrive.

Section 245 allows the adjustment, but only after you have been given intimation and an opportunity to respond. Courts have repeatedly set aside adjustments made without that notice. So a refund that vanishes without any communication is worth challenging rather than accepting.

The intimation arrives on the portal and by email, and you have thirty days to agree or disagree. Disagreeing is not merely a protest — if the demand is wrong, or already paid, or under appeal, say so with the evidence, because silence is treated as agreement.

6Interest on a delayed refund, and when it is refused

Section 244A gives interest at 0.5% a month, which is 6% a year, on a delayed refund. It is not something you claim — it is computed and paid with the refund.

The period runs from 1 April of the assessment year where the refund arises from TDS or advance tax and the return was filed on time, and from the date of payment where it arises from self-assessment tax. Interest is not payable where the refund is less than 10% of the tax determined.

The important exception is delay attributable to you. Where the proceedings are held up for reasons within your control, that period is excluded — which is one more reason to answer notices promptly rather than at the deadline.

7When the credit fails and the refund bounces back

A refund that was issued and then failed is a different problem from one that was never issued, and it has its own fix.

The usual causes are a bank account that is closed, not pre-validated, held in a different name, or not linked to your PAN. The refund returns to the department and the status shows as failed rather than paid.

The remedy is a refund re-issue request on the income-tax portal, made after pre-validating a working account. There is no limit on how many times you can request it, and no fresh return is needed.