The bank cannot issue an immediate refund as the request has to be authorized by the merchant first. Once the merchant approves your request, they will give their bank authorization to return the funds to your account. The process typically takes between 3–10 business days.
If the refund could not get credited to the bank account then to resolve the issue, raise the grievance in the income tax portal. In certain cases, the income tax department may ask you to raise a refund reissue request.
When your refund shows as "pending" it means the seller has issued the refund, but the money hasn't cleared their bank. It usually takes up to 5 business days for a refund to complete. If your refund is still pending after 5 business days, contact the seller for details.
For bank deposit refunds, it may take 2-3 business days for the funds to reflect in your account. For credit card refunds, it depends on your bank's payment processing times and payments could take 5-7 business days to reflect in your account.
Refunds for bank transfers
Generally, a bank transfer takes between 0–3 working days to appear back in your account.
If you e-filed your return and chose direct deposit to receive your refund, you'll usually receive your refund in 8-15 days. However, you should allow an extra 1-5 business days for your bank to process the funds.
Many different factors can affect the timing of a refund, such as if the return has errors, is incomplete or is affected by identity theft or fraud. Other causes for delays: The return may require additional review. The return needs a correction to the Earned Income Tax Credit or Additional Child Tax Credit.
If you have contacted the financial institution and two weeks have passed with no results, you will need to file Form 3911, Taxpayer Statement Regarding Refund PDF to initiate a trace. This allows the IRS to contact the bank on your behalf to attempt recovery of your refund.
Sometimes the pending transaction may disappear from your transaction history and the amount returned to your available balance. This means the transaction has expired or cancelled and wasn't processed by the merchant.
The IRS will send you a CP237A if the tax refund check they sent you was never deposited. If you received this notice, call 1-800-829-0115 to claim your refund.
While most credit card refunds take 4 or 5 business days, it could actually take 2 to 90 days for a refund to show up on your credit card account. If more than 90 days go by without word from your credit card company, contact them and ask whether your refund is being withheld or disputed.
A refunded transaction may have a slight delay to being processed to your account. This will clear as a credit in your transactions and will therefore not be a debited.
On screen:
It reads: "Refund Approved. Transaction may take 1-3 business days to show up."
Normally we aim to process most returns in about 2 weeks. That can vary a little depending on how complex the return is or whether anything needs to be doubled checked.
An incomplete return, an inaccurate return, an amended return, tax fraud, claiming tax credits, owing certain debts for which the government can take part or all of your refund, and sending your refund to the wrong bank due to an incorrect routing number are all reasons that a tax refund can be delayed.
What to do if you have not received the refund on time? If the income tax refund not received is causing you concern, check the status of your refund online via the e-filing website or TIN NSDL portal using your PAN and assessment year details. Ensure your bank account details are correct and pre-validated.
Depending on the issuing bank or credit card company, it can take an average of 1-7 business days for these funds to show in their account, based on the issuer's settlement process. Credit card accounts typically take longer to display refunded transactions than debit card accounts.
Lost or Stolen Refund: If one of the IRS refund tracking applications, mentioned below, indicates the IRS issued your refund, but you haven't received it, your refund may have been lost, stolen, misplaced, or directed to a different bank account if the direct deposit numbers entered on your tax return were incorrect.
Common reasons include changes to a tax return or a payment of past due federal or state debts.
It takes at least 24 hours after your e-filed return has been accepted by the IRS for your refund information to show up on the IRS system. If you filed Form 8379, Injured Spouse Allocation, with your tax return, it can take 11 weeks before your tax return status is available on the IRS system.
shows “Refund Sent”, the IRS has sent your tax refund to your financial institution for direct deposit. It can take 1 to 5 days for your financial institution to deposit funds into your account. If you don't receive it in 1 to 5 days then you should contact your financial institution.
Refunds to debit cards tend to take between two and five business days, but it can take up to 30 days depending on the company issuing the refund.