Introduction
As we know all the persons have to pay taxes, there are many types of taxes like income tax, sales tax, vat tax, and now all the taxes combined in one i.e., Goods and Services Tax (GST). But here we will talk about income tax and refund of income tax. To understand the procedure and duration for claiming a tax refund, firstly we should understand the meaning of tax. In simple words, Tax is money that people have to pay to the government. A tax is a compulsory financial charge or some other type of levy imposed upon a taxpayer by a government organization in order to fund government spending and various public expenditures. Taxes consist of direct or indirect taxes.
Now, we all understand what tax is and now we will understand what Income tax is and what is an Income tax refund? Income tax is paid by that person who generated income through their businesses or their work. The persons who paid taxes must file an income tax return to determine their tax obligation. Another term income tax refund means a tax refund is a reimbursement to a taxpayer of any excess amount paid to the federal government or a state government.
How to claim Income Tax Refund?
Now we all know what is income tax and income tax refund, tax is an amount which he/she earn and paid to government but when we have to pay these taxes, it is very difficult for us to pay but when we get the refund from the government it is like a lottery for his/her. The situation is here is that the tax refund is not any other amount which government gifted you, it is only that money which you have overpaid as taxes and now claim by filing tax refund. Following is the procedure of how one can claim a tax refund:
a) Always remember the Income Tax Returns (ITR) filing date: To claim the income tax refund one should remember on which date he/she file an ITR, the deadline for filing the ITR is 31st July of every year. One should avoid the last-minute hassles to claim an income tax refund. He/she can claim an income tax refund for that particular financial year while filing his/her ITR.
b) Keep all the Documents: While claiming income tax refund or while start filing ITR one should have all the documents needed for claim refund. The all the relevant documents are salary documents, bank statements, to support the investment form 16 and any other investment proofs.
c) File Income Tax Return: When you have all the documents, now start the process of filing the form which contains a name, address, salary, and taxable income, the refund due, total due and TDS if applicable. The form a person which he/she fill form ITR will record all the financial statements of a person for that particular financial year. For filing the ITR form he/she can consult his/her Chartered Accountant (CA).
d) Know your Refund Amount: When one submitting their ITR forms, he/she is entitled to know their refund amount. For knowing his/her refund amount one should go to taxes paid and verification page and click on the Validate option. From this option, you know your refund amount and you can save the copy of ITR verification.
e) Send the ITR-V receipt to the Income Tax Department, Bangalore: After filing of form and knowing of the refund amount, one should have to sign the ITR-V receipt and post it to the Income Tax office. The address of the office is given on form itself.
f) Getting your ITR refund: After sending a form to the Income Tax office, they verified your all details and recheck all the details, if there is anything wrong your application being rejected. And if everything being corrected you will get a text message on your registered mobile number or on email address and amount will be credited to your account within 1 month to 4 month.
Tracking Income Tax Refund
a) Refund by cheque: Now tracking the income tax refund is very easy now, you will get easily track your refund. The government of India gives an opportunity for taxpayers to track their refund, they provide a number of post services to taxpayers. They only have to use the reference number given by the Income Tax Department.
b) Refund through Direct Transfer: As now, all the things are doing through online mode, the IT department also uses an online method for the transfer of refund. They credited money to the registered bank account through ECS transfer. RTGS also used for online transfer of money.
Conclusion
As now we all understand the meaning of income tax and what is income and what is an income tax refund. The income tax refund is the amount that taxpayers overpaid to the IT Department at the time of paying taxes. The overpaid amount when the IT Department paid back to the taxpayer is known as an income tax return. There is an online portal on which you can check your income tax refund and its status. For claiming the income tax refund you have to file ITR form for that financial year before 31st July of that year. It’s very easy to get a refund now and it will helpful for the taxpayers.
This article is authored by Nidhi, Second-Year, BBA. LL.B (Hons.) student at Geeta Institute of Law, Delhi NCR.
Also Read – How To File Income Tax Return Online?
