New Delhi17 minutes ago
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The Income Tax Department has sent emails and SMS to taxpayers in bulk in the last few days. It has been told in these messages that due to some discrepancy found in ITR filing, their refund has been put on hold.
These notifications have been sent under the ‘Risk Management Process’. The messages that taxpayers are receiving generally read – As part of the risk management process, some discrepancies have been found in your refund claim, hence the processing of the return has been stopped.
Its details have been sent to your registered email. The opportunity to correct mistakes by filing revised ITR is only till 31st December.
5 big reasons for refund getting stuck
If your refund is on hold, these may be the reasons behind it
- Data mismatch: There is a difference between your declared income and the data in Form 26AS/AIS.
- Hiding Income: Non-disclosure of share market (F&O), foreign income or capital gains from sale of property.
- Fake Claim: Making fake or inflated claims of HRA, insurance or donation.
- Expenses are high, income is low: Income is shown to be low, but credit card bill or property purchase is very high.
- Not responding: Not responding to questions asked on the compliance portal.
How much delay will there be in getting the refund?
Suraj Singh, tax expert and founder of SD Singh & Associates, says that for people whose refund has been flagged in risk management, it may take a few weeks to a few months to get the money. There is no fixed timeline for this.
However, this delay should not be too much as these alerts have been generated by the department’s AI system. If any discrepancy is found in the department’s records, a notice may be sent to you. In such cases, refund is issued only after document verification (scrutiny).
Both old and new regime received notices
According to experts, this message has been received not only by those in any one tax regime, but by both old and new taxpayers. However, the number of taxpayers choosing the old tax regime is more. The reason for this is that in the old regime, there are many options to save tax through deduction.
At the same time, those under the new regime have received this notice when they have hidden or not disclosed their income. Suraj Singh says, nowadays data from different sources is automatically matched. Therefore, if someone has made an exaggerated claim or submitted fake documents, the system catches it immediately.
No need to panic, just match the data
Ashok Mehta, member of The Chamber of Tax Consultants, says that if the system has held your refund, it means that there is a mismatch between the ITR and TDS details. The department is giving you a chance to correct your mistake.
If you are a genuine taxpayer, there is no need to panic. All you need to do is review your filing and match the data with Form 26AS, AIS or TIS. If any unintentional mistake has been made, correct it. The only people who need to be afraid are those who have knowingly given wrong information to get a refund.
What will happen if the deadline of December 31 is missed?
The last date to file revised return is 31 December 2025, i.e. now only 5 days are left.
Option of ITR-U: If you miss this deadline, you will only have the option of filing updated return (ITR-U).
Penalty will be imposed: On filing ITR-U, you may have to pay penalty and interest along with tax.
Refund will not be given: The most important thing is that you cannot claim refund in ITR-U. This means that even if you were right, your refund money may still be lost.
Fear of scrutiny: If you do not take any action, the department can send a notice under section 133(6). If the reply is not satisfactory, scrutiny under section 147 can be initiated.
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