Link your bank account to tax account for refund

K. ARAVIND

Have you received a refund of income tax return filed last year? If not it may be the result of non-compliance with the tax refund procedure. The bank account must be linked to your tax account in order to receive a refund. This provision was recently made mandatory.

To link your bank account with your tax account, log in to your online tax account, go to Profile Settings and click on ‘Prevalidate Your Bank Account ‘. Then enter your bank account number, IFSC code, mobile number and e – mail address.

Accounts will be linked if the information you provide, such as name, date of birth, mobile number, etc., matches the bank record. If the bank information is linked to the Income Tax Department’s database, it will be validated immediately. If the information in the bank is not linked to the database of the Income Tax Department, the information needs to be confirmed by contacting the Income Tax Department bank.

Validation will not be complete if there is a discrepancy between the information in the Income Tax Department and the bank due to incorrect entry of letters or numbers in the name. Validation will only take place if any of the false information is corrected. You can also apply for pre-validation of the account by visiting the bank branch on the website of the Tax Department.

No tax refund will be given if the bank account is not pre-validated. Refunds will be available online from March 1, 2019. The bank account must be linked to the tax account in order to receive the e-refund. Accounts must therefore be linked.

Overseas Indians are perplexed by this provision. The Income Tax Department does not accept foreign phone numbers. Therefore, NRIs will be required to give the number of their relatives in India to the Income Tax Department while that given at the bank will be the foreign cell phone number. Most people do this for the convenience of managing a bank account from abroad. The account cannot be pre-validated in such circumstances. It is not possible to get a refund if the mobile numbers provided by the bank and the Income Tax Department are different.

There are allegations that this provision creates unnecessary confusion. There are no such provisions in the Income Tax Act regarding refunds. This is just a provision introduced by the Income Tax Department for its convenience.