Income tax refund delayed: CBDT explains why and when money will be credited

Reasons behind the delay in income tax refunds

1.Scrutiny of high-value claims

2. Red-flagged deductions

3. Wrongful deduction claims detected

The department found instances of incorrect or excessive deduction claims, slowing down the refund process as these cases are being analysed.

4. Requests for revised returns

The department has written to certain taxpayers, asking them to file revised returns if they had missed or incorrectly reported details. "We have also written to the taxpayers to file a revised return in case they have forgotten something," he said.

Common reasons your income tax refund may take longer than expected

Your income tax refund may take longer to arrive for several different reasons.

• Refunds exceeding ₹1 lakh usually go through extra checks and validations, which can slow down the process.

• If your return includes complicated elements, such as foreign earnings, capital gains, or multiple income streams, it may require manual review, leading to additional delays.

• Submitting a revised return can also extend the timeline because the system must reassess and process the updated information.

• If you fail to verify your return, it becomes invalid, and the refund cannot be issued.

• Delays may also occur when the tax credits you claim don’t match the details in Form 26AS or the Annual Information Statement.

• Even a small mismatch between what you report and what employers, banks, or other institutions report can trigger further scrutiny and slow down the processing.

Refund issuances, as per official data updated till last week, dropped about 18 per cent to over ₹ 2.42 lakh crore between April 1 and November 10.

The CBDT initially extended the deadline for individual returns (FY 2024-25) from July 31 to September 15, 2025, citing changes in ITR forms and system readiness. The date was later further extended by one day to September 16, 2025.