Not Received Income Tax Refund Due to Change in Address? Here’s What you Should Do

Individuals normally change their residential address without notifying the income tax authorities. Often at the time of filing the income tax returns individuals do not update their residential address.

When the refund is issued and sent to the address of the individual, the cheque is returned to the authorities in Mumbai. It's therefore important to notify of the change in address.

What you should do to receive an income tax refund at new address?

You have to contact your assessing officer and intimate him of the change in the residential address. Once he is notified you can make another request for a refund if your refund cheque has not been sent to the new address.
Once he has notified the change apply online for your refund again.

ECS still not being implemented

The concept of ECS credit of income tax refund is still not being completely implemented. What this means is that in case you have changed your address, the refund which is normally sent by speedpost, comes undelivered. This is a big hassle and it's still now clear why the refund process is not being done through ECS, NEFT or RTGS.
In fact, individuals in big cities like Bengaluru are still receiving their income tax refunds through cheques. Some of them may also

change their bank accounts which must be notified to the assessing officer.

Also read What to do if TDS is deducted by employer but not deposited here

Conclusion

It may be a tedious task to get your refund in case you change your address, but, you should be doing it in case the sum is rather large. It's best to check the address at the time of filing returns, although you could have changed the address after filing your address. In any case you should get in touch with your assessing officer to complete the necessary formalities.

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