Income Tax Refund: Paid Extra Tax Than Required? Here's How To Claim From IT Department

Income Tax Refund: If you have paid extra tax on income, you can claim a refund for the excess amount. Many times it may happen that the taxpayer has paid excess tax as against the tax required to be paid by them. In such a case they are granted a refund of the excess tax paid. There are various provisions relating to the claim of refund of excess tax paid by the taxpayer.

When the tax paid by the taxpayer (could be in the form of advance tax or tax deducted/collected at source or self-assessment tax or payment of tax on regular assessment) is more than the required amount, they will be eligible to claim refund of the excess tax paid. Sections 237 to 245 deal with the provisions relating to refund of tax.

As per section 237, if any person satisfies the Assessing Officer that the amount of tax paid by them for any year exceeds the amount of tax payable, they shall be entitled to a refund of the excess tax paid.

Person entitled to claim refund

In the normal course, the person who has paid the tax is entitled to claim the refund of excess tax paid. There are certain special cases in which the refund is to be claimed by a person other than the payer. The provisions relating to a person entitled to claim refund in certain special cases are given in section 238. As per section 238, following persons are entitled to claim refund of tax:

Where the income of one person is included in the total income of another person under any provision of the Act (i.e., as per the clubbing provisions, e.g., income of minor child clubbed with the income of parent), the latter shall be entitled to a refund in respect of the clubbed income.

Where through death, incapacity, insolvency, liquidation or other cause, a person is unable to claim or receive any refund due to them, their legal representative or the trustee or guardian or receiver (as the case may be), shall be entitled to claim or receive such refund for the benefit of such person or his estate.

How to claim refund if you have paid excess tax?

The excess tax can be claimed as a refund by filing your income-tax return.

How will it be refunded?

It will be refunded to you by crediting it in your bank account through Electronic Clearing Service (ECS) transfer. According to the IT department, it has been making efforts to settle refund claims at the earliest.​​

Steps before filing ITR to claim refund

• Verify your tax credit statement (Form 26AS) to ensure that the excess tax paid has been credited to your account by IT department.
• Once you have filed your tax return and verified your tax credit statement, you can claim a refund for the excess tax paid.
• You can do this by filing an online refund request through the income tax department’s website.
• Once you have filed your refund request, you can check the status of your refund online.

In case you face any issues related to claiming your refund, it is advisable to seek professional help from a tax consultant or a chartered accountant. Taxpayers can check more details on the official website of IT department (https://incometaxindia.gov.in/Pages/default.aspx) for understanding different provisions of tax refund.

Read all the Latest Business News, Tax News and Stock Market Updates here