Tax deducted at source or TDS is a concept to collect tax from the source of income. The deductee from whose income tax has been deducted at source would be given the credit of the amount of tax deducted on the basis of Form 26AS or also TDS certificate issued by the deductor.
What is a TDS Refund?
A TDS refund is when the tax amount that is deducted is higher than the tax liability actually is. Generally, it is witnessed that investment projections declared at the start of the financial year do not match with the actual investment made at the end of the financial year.
In case there is a mismatch between the total deducted tax at the end of the year and the income tax you are expected to pay for the year in question, a TDS refund arises.
How to claim TDS Refund Online?
In order to claim your TDS refund online, you will have to go through the following steps:
- First, visit the official website of the Income Tax Department at incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in.
- In case you are not already registered, get yourself registered on the portal.
- Use your login credentials in order to log in to the portal.
- Find out the ITR with respect to your relevance and file the ITR
- After filling in the required details on the form, submit it
- Lastly, e-verify the submitted form using your digital signature, and your net banking account or Aadhar based OTP.
How to check the status of TDS refund?
You can check the status of your TDS refund by:
- Acknowledgement and refund processing email from the IT department
- Using PAN card number
- Contacting CPC Bangalore
TDS refund period
Generally, if you filed your ITR on time, it takes around 3 to 5 months for the refund to be credited to your bank account. The time that it takes for the refund to be credited is also dependent on the completion of the e-verification.
Process of verifying the status of TDS Refund
If you have not received your refund, here are a few ways in which you can verify the status:
- Get in contact with your jurisdictional Income Tax office
- Download and verify your Form 26AS which is an annual TDS summary statement with your TDS and income details.
- Connect with the Ombudsman income tax department or you can raise a complaint through an e-filing account.
Interest on TDS Refund
In case the IT department is not able to pay the TDS refund applicable on time, they are liable to pay the amount with a simple interest of 6%. This provision falls under Section 244A of the Income Tax Act. The interest that accrues from the first month of the Assessment year when an ITR is filed with the due date and from the date of filing of the returns in any other case. It is important to note that if the TDS refund amount is less than 10% of the income tax payable, the IT department is not needed to pay the interest. Moreover, the interest, if applicable, received is liable to be taxed under ‘income from o
