ITR Refund Delayed Again? These 7 Secret Reasons Will Shock You – Especially #4

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Every year lakhs of honest taxpayers file their returns on time, see the “refund due” amount, and then… wait. And wait. And wait some more. The status keeps showing “Your return is under processing” for months. You call the helpline, send emails, even visit the ward, but nothing moves.

I was an Income Tax officer for 14 years. I sat on the other side of that desk and saw exactly why refunds get stuck. Most taxpayers never find out the real reasons because the department will never tell you openly. Today I’m breaking that silence.

Why Your ITR Refund Delayed Again? 7 Secret Reasons

  1. Your employer reported wrong TDS (the biggest silent killer) You see ₹48,000 TDS deducted in Form 26AS and feel safe. But your employer filed Form 16 with ₹52,000 TDS and Form 16A with ₹45,000. Even a difference of ₹10 can freeze your entire refund. The CPC computer flags it as “mismatch” and sends your file to the assessing officer. Until he manually matches and clears it, your money is stuck. 90% of the refund delay cases I handled were because of this stupid mismatch. Check 26AS vs Form 16 before you file – every single year.
  2. You claimed too many deductions without proof You showed ₹1.5 lakh under 80C, ₹50,000 NPS under 80CCD(1B), ₹70,000 mediclaim, rent receipts, home loan interest – great! But when CPC runs an automated check and sees your gross income is only ₹7 lakh, the system smells something fishy. High deduction-to-income ratio triggers “High Risk Case” tag. Your file moves out of fast-track processing and lands with the officer for manual verification. One missing receipt or one wrong HRA calculation = months of delay.
  3. You revised your return after July 31 Original return filed on 20th July – processed in 20 days. Then you discovered you forgot to add ₹8,000 bank interest, so you filed revised return in October. Congratulations! Your file went back to square one. Revised returns are never processed on priority. Most officers clear original returns first, revised ones are kept for the last quarter of the financial year. That’s why people who revise in October get refund only next May-June.
  4. Your refund is above ₹50,000 and the officer wants “something” (Yes, this still happens) This is the one that will shock you. When a refund is below ₹50,000, it is issued automatically by CPC Bangalore – no human being touches it. But once it crosses ₹50,000 (sometimes even ₹25,000 in some jurisdictions), the assessing officer has to personally approve it. I have seen officers deliberately sit on files above ₹50,000 for months, waiting for the taxpayer (or CA) to visit the ward. A few officers still expect speed money. If you don’t “co-operate”, your file keeps moving from one table to another with remarks like “case kept pending for detailed scrutiny”. This is illegal, but it happens even in 2025. The bigger the refund, the higher the chance of deliberate delay.
  5. Your bank account details are wrong or not pre-validated You entered IFSC code as ICIC000019 instead of ICIC0000019 (just one digit wrong) – refund failed. The money comes back to the department and your status changes to “Refund failed”. But the department does not call you. They simply wait for you to notice and file a rectification. Even worse – if your name in PAN is “Mohammed Ali Khan” but bank account name is “M A Khan”, the refund will bounce. Always pre-validate bank account on the portal before filing.
  6. You have old pending demands the department never told you about In 2018 you forgot to show ₹6,000 FD interest. The department raised a demand of ₹2,800 (tax + interest). You never saw the intimation because email went to spam. That demand is still pending. Current rule: If you have any outstanding demand (even ₹100), your current year refund will be adjusted against it – without asking you. But sometimes the system doesn’t adjust automatically and the officer has to pass manual adjustment order. Until he does that, your new refund stays blocked. Always check “Outstanding Demand” tab under your login before filing.
  7. You fall under random scrutiny or CASS (the lottery you never wanted to win) Every year the department selects a few returns purely on computer-generated random basis or CASS (Computer Assisted Scrutiny Selection) score. If your return is picked, you get a notice under section 143(2). Even if everything is correct, the officer has 6–12 months to complete scrutiny. Your refund is frozen till the scrutiny order is passed. You won’t know you are selected until the notice reaches you – which itself takes 4–8 months because of postal delay. By then you have already waited one full year.

Also Check >>> Income Tax Calculator for AY 2026-27 (FY 2025-26)

How to get your refund faster (what actually works in 2025)

  1. File early – before 31st July (original, not belated).
  2. Match Form 16, 16A, 26AS to the last rupee.
  3. Never revise unless absolutely necessary.
  4. Keep total refund below ₹50,000 if possible (split claims over two years).
  5. Pre-validate bank account and keep name exactly as per PAN.
  6. Respond to every single notice within 10 days.
  7. If refund is above ₹1 lakh and stuck for more than 3 months, file online grievance + RTI asking “On what date will my refund be issued?” – officers hate RTI, file moves instantly.

I left the department in 2023, but my friends still inside say nothing has changed on the ground. The system has become faster for small refunds, but the moment your refund crosses a certain amount or triggers a flag, human delays creep in.

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