Income Tax Return Filing: Your Refunds May Fail If Bank Account Is Not Validated; How To Re-Validate?

Income Tax Department has guided taxpayers to submit a 'refund reissue' request if they did not receive their refunds due to non-validation of bank account details. The deadline for filing income tax returns (ITR) for the assessment year 2024-25 is nearing on July 31. With less than 45 days remaining to file ITR, chances are there can be last last-minute rush at the income tax portal which opens the possibility of errors. Incorrect details including that of bank accounts can lead to failure of credit or refunds in your banks.

Through its X handler, the IT department said, "If your refund has failed due to non-validation / re-validation of your bank account, please ensure your bank account is validated or re-validated, as applicable."

It added, "If you have not submitted "Refund Reissue Request" after validation/ re-validation of your bank account, Do remember to submit "Refund Reissue" request."

What Is a Refund Re-Issue Request?

As per the IT-dept guidelines, if you have received an intimation from the Income Tax Department or Refund Banker (SBI) that the processing of the refund has failed, you can submit a Refund Reissue Request on the e-Filing portal. With refund reissue request service, taxpayers can raise a request in the e-filing portal for re-issuance of refund.

Some of the reasons why your refund has failed to be credited to your accounts are because:

- Incorrect Bank Details (Account no, MICR Code, IFSC Code, Name mismatch etc.)

- Account holder KYC is pending

- Account details given are other than Current Account or Saving Bank Account

- Account Description is incorrect

Here's how to re-validate your bank account:

Step 1: Log in to the e-filing portal using your user ID and password.

Step 2: Go to the My Profile page from the Dashboard.

Step 3: Click My Bank Account. On the My Bank Accounts page, the Added, Failed and Removed Bank Accounts tabs will be displayed. There will be various options for the service -- such as -- Add and Pre-Validate a Bank Account; Removing a Bank Account; Nominating or Removing a Bank Account from Nomination for Refund; Enabling and disabling EVC; and Re-Validate a Bank Account.

Step 4: In case the validation for a bank account failed earlier, you will see its details under the Failed Bank Accounts tab. Click Re-Validate under the Action column for the bank account you need to revalidate.

Step 5: On the Add Bank Account page, your details will be pre-filled. Update the details if necessary.

Step 6: Lastly, Click On Validate. On success, the bank account is added under the Added Bank Accounts tab, and the status is updated to Validation in progress.

Then, your contact details are verified with the bank details. If the details are verified by the bank, your bank account gets validated. You can check the validation status in the Status column of the Added Bank Accounts tab, as per the IT-dept guidelines.

After re-validation of the bank account, taxpayers can submit a 'refund reissue request'. Here's how to do it:

Step 1: Log in to the e-filing portal using your user ID and password.

Step 2: On your Dashboard, click Services > Refund Reissue.

Step 3: On the Refund Reissue page, the details and status of the refund reissue requests you have raised are displayed. To create a new request for refund reissue, click Create Refund Reissue Request.

Step 4: On the Create Refund Reissue Request page, select the record for which you want to submit a request for refund reissue and click Continue.

Step 5: On the Select a Bank Account page, select the bank account where you would like to receive the refund and click Proceed to Verification.

Step 6: After successful verification of the bank details, select your preferred option on the e-Verify page.

After successful e-verification, a success message along with a Transaction ID will be displayed. Please keep a note of the Transaction ID for future reference. You will also receive a confirmation message on the email ID and mobile number registered with the e-filing portal.

It needs to be noted that if you click View Refund Reissue Request, you will be taken to the View Refund Reissue Request page where you can also view the status of the submitted requests.