Income Tax Helpline: Paid more? Do this by August 31 to claim your income tax refund

Income Tax Helpline: The August 31st deadline for Income Tax Return (ITR) filing is fast approaching and hence it's advisable for the earning individuals to e-file their IT return and must e-verify their ITR before submitting itsIT return online. But, what about those who think they have paid more income tax than their income tax outgo. According to the tax and investment experts, such incidence happen with both salaried and the business community. So, what they need is to log in at  incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in and e-file their IT return as they have very little time left in their hand. Once they file their ITR, the Income Tax Department would automatically credit the surplus income tax amount in their bank account.

Speaking on how to claim income tax refund Vivek Jalan, Co-Chairman, Bengal Chamber of Commerce said, "You can claim your Income Tax refund by filing your Income Tax Returns (ITR) only. If any excess tax was paid by you or on your behalf (TDS), the remaining amount would get refunded once the ITR is filed. In fact, you can view your IT Refund status by logging into portal.incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in with your User Id and Passwords and going into the field “My Account/view e-filed Returns/Forms.” He said that it is important to note that in case there is a refund due to you, The Government shall also pay you interest on the amount of refund @6% p.a. from 1st April of the Assessment Year till the date of generating the refund by the Government. Hence every person must make sure that the interest is received.

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"It is again critical to note that if your Tax Amount is less than the TDS deducted in last year and if you are expecting the same situation this year also, then you have an option of not getting TDS deducted at all. This option is available by Filing Form 13 under Section 197 of The Income Tax Act. This is a facility to reduce the hardship faced by the taxpayer of having their liquidity stuck up. For the FY 2018-19, the last date of ITR filing in non-audit cases is August 31, 2019. Hence all must make sure their ITR is filed on time. Otherwise, a penalty of Rs 5000/- may be imposed," said Vivek Jalan.

Elaborating upon the income tax refund Balwant Jain, a  Mumbai-based tax and investment expert said, "Under Section 119 of the Income Tax Act, a taxpayer can make a request to condone the delay in filing of return within six years from the end of the assessment year in respect of which the return is to be filed. So effectively in case of a claim for an income tax refund, you get an extension of five years only as presently also you can file your income tax return for a refund one year after the end of the assessment year." So now you can make an application for condonation of delay for any financial year ending 31-03-2013 or thereafter. 

Therefore, in case any of you who failed to file your return in which you were entitled to claim an income tax refund or carry forward of losses, can file the application now in case it relates to the financial year ended 31-03-2013 or thereafter.