Income Tax Refund Delayed? Here's How To Check Refund Status And Raise Re-Issue Request!

Many taxpayers are complaining about not receiving their entitled refund after income tax return filing. In general terms, it takes four to five weeks for the refund to be credited in taxpayers account. The Income Tax Department refunds when income tax paid exceeds the actual amount due either by way of TDS or TCS or Advance Tax or Self-Assessment Tax.

The income tax return filing for financial year 2024-25 and assessment year 2025-26 has ended on September 16, 2025.

Taxpayers' Complaint On Income Tax Refund Delay:

Many taxpayers have tagged the Income Tax Department for the delay in the ITR refund. A user through his X handler said, "Dear Income Tax Department, I am writing to express my concern regarding the delay in processing my income tax refund. It has been nearly 85 days since I filed my return, and the system currently shows the status as "Return being processed" with no further progress." This taxpayer has complained about his issue several times since last month, while he filed his ITR on June 18th.

Another user tagged the Finance Ministry and IT department, saying, "your department mentioned in their official website as the refund will process in 4-5 weeks we have filed in the first week close to 4 months still it's in process how many months we need to wait? TDS deducted on time why can't do this."

To taxpayers, the IT department has directed them to submit their grievance on their portal. Here is the link:

https://eportal.incometax.gov.in/iec/foservices/#/fo-greivance/submit/ormlanding

It needs to be noted that to submit a Grievance request , please ensure you're registered on the e-Filing portal. In case you are not registered, kindly register at www.incometax.gov.in. For any assistance, contact the helpdesk at 18001030025 /[phone].

What To Do When Your ITR Refund Is Delayed?

As per IT department guidelines, refund shall be issued to the pre-validated bank account only. In case of refund failure, taxpayer can raise the service request in e-Filing portal upon receiving communication from CPC.

Follow the following steps to raise for refund re-issue request:

Step 1: Logon to 'e-Filing' Portal https://www.incometax.gov.in/iec/foportal/​

Step 2: Go to Services ' menu and click on 'Refund reissue'.

Step 3: Create Refund Reissue request.

Step 4: You will get the details of Assessment Year for which refund got failed.

Step 5: Select the Assessment Year and click on continue.

Step 6: On next screen, you will get the details of Bank. Validate the bank if it is not validated.

Step 7: After validation, select such bank and submit the request.

How To Check Refund Status:

Step 1: Go to the e-Filing portal homepage.

Step 2: Enter the user ID and password.

For individual users, if PAN is not linked with the Aadhaar, you will see a pop-up message that your PAN is made inoperative as it is not linked with your Aadhaar.

To link the PAN with Aadhaar, click on Link Now button else click Continue.

Step 3: Go to e-File tab > Income Tax Returns > View Filed Returns.

Step 4: Now you can check the refund status for the desired Assessment year.

Click on View Details and here you can also check the life cycle of filed ITR. Such as:

Status 1: When refund is issued

Status 2: When refund is partially adjusted

Status 3: When full refund adjusted

Status 4: When refund is failed

Also, if your PAN is inoperative, your refund will get failed and you will see a warning message to link your PAN with the Aadhaar.