How do I check my income tax refund status by PAN?

Log in to incometax.gov.in with your PAN as the user ID, then go to e-File > Income Tax Returns > View Filed Returns, pick Assessment Year 2026-27 and click View Details. That screen shows the full refund lifecycle — when the return was processed, when the refund was determined, and when it was sent to the refund banker. Without logging in you can use the Income Tax Return (ITR) Status service with your acknowledgement number and a mobile OTP.

How many days does an income tax refund take in 2026?

Most straightforward salaried returns are processed within 7 to 45 days of e-verification, and the refund is usually credited within 4 to 5 weeks. The clock starts at e-verification, not at filing — an unverified return is treated as never filed and no refund is processed at all.

What does refund failed mean and how do I fix it?

Refund Failed means the department released the money but the bank could not accept it — usually because the account is not pre-validated, the name on the account does not match PAN, the IFSC changed after a bank merger, or the account is closed. Fix the bank account under Profile > My Bank Account, pre-validate and nominate it for refund, then raise a Refund Reissue request under Services > Refund Reissue for that assessment year.

My ITR is processed but the refund is not credited. Why?

The three common reasons are: the refund was adjusted against an old outstanding demand under Section 245, the bank credit failed and the status reads Refund Failed, or the refund is still in transit with the refund banker (SBI), which typically takes a few working days after the intimation email. Read the Section 143(1) intimation first — it states the refund actually determined, which can be lower than the refund you claimed.

Do I get interest on a delayed income tax refund?

Yes. Under Section 244A the department pays 0.5% per month (6% a year) on delayed refunds, calculated from April 1 of the assessment year if you filed by the due date. No interest is payable if the refund is less than 10% of the tax determined, and the interest you receive is itself taxable as income from other sources in the year you receive it.

Can I check income tax refund status without logging in?

Yes. On the e-filing portal home page, open the Income Tax Return (ITR) Status service under Quick Links, enter your 15-digit acknowledgement number and the mobile number given in the return, and verify the OTP. This shows the return status; the detailed refund lifecycle and any reissue option require logging in.

Income Tax Refund Status: How to Check Your ITR Refund (AY 2026-27)

Reviewed on August 2, 2026 • Author: Upaman Research Team • Reviewer: India Tax Review Desk

You filed your return for FY 2025-26 (Assessment Year 2026-27), the portal said a refund was due, and now nothing has landed. This guide covers how to check your income tax refund status online — by PAN after logging in, or by acknowledgement number without logging in — what each refund status message actually means, how long an ITR refund normally takes, and the exact fix when the status says refund failed or when your ITR is processed but the refund is not credited.

One thing to settle before anything else: refund processing only starts when you e-verify. If you submitted the return and never completed e-verification within 30 days, the return is treated as never filed, and there is no refund status to check because there is no return to process. Everything below assumes an e-verified return.

The fastest way: check refund status by PAN (after login)

This is the authoritative route, and the only one that shows the full refund lifecycle with dates:

Go to incometax.gov.in and log in. Your user ID is your PAN.
Open e-File → Income Tax Returns → View Filed Returns.
Find AY 2026-27 in the list and click View Details.
You now see the return's timeline: return filed, e-verified, processed, refund determined, refund issued, and the date the refund was sent to the refund banker, along with the mode of payment and the last four digits of the credited account.

The same screen is where you download the intimation under Section 143(1) — the document that tells you the refund the department actually computed, which is not always the refund you claimed. Read it before concluding a refund is "missing." The PDF opens with a password: your PAN in lowercase followed by your date of birth as DDMMYYYY (for example, abcde1234f01011990).

Check ITR refund status without logging in

If you don't have portal credentials handy, use the Income Tax Return (ITR) Status service under Quick Links on the e-filing home page. Enter your 15-digit acknowledgement number (on the ITR-V and in your filing confirmation email) and the mobile number given in the return, then verify the 6-digit OTP. This confirms whether the return is verified and processed — it does not expose refund reissue or bank details, so a genuine refund problem still needs a login.

A note on the old route: a large number of articles still tell you to check refund status on the TIN-NSDL (now Protean) refund tracking page using PAN and assessment year. Refund tracking has been consolidated into the e-filing portal, so treat incometax.gov.in as the single source of truth — if the two ever disagree, the portal is right. And no legitimate refund check ever requires a fee, a card number, or a link sent over SMS or WhatsApp; refund-themed phishing peaks in exactly this part of the year.

What each refund status message means

Status you see	What it actually means	What to do
Return submitted, not e-verified	Nothing is in the queue. The return is legally treated as not filed.	E-verify now via Aadhaar OTP, net banking, or bank EVC — within 30 days of filing.
Successfully e-verified / Under processing	CPC has your return and is matching it against AIS, Form 26AS, and TDS credits.	Wait. This is the normal state for the first few weeks.
Processed with refund due	Assessment is complete and a refund has been determined in your favour.	Nothing — payment follows. Check the 143(1) intimation for the exact amount.
Refund awaited	A refund is due but has not yet been released — usually a pending bank validation or a queue delay.	Confirm your bank account is pre-validated and nominated for refund.
Refund determined and sent to refund banker	Money has gone to SBI, the government's refund banker, for credit to your account.	Expect credit in roughly 3–7 working days.
Refund issued	Paid. The screen shows the date, mode, and masked account number.	Match it against your bank statement; the credit narration mentions ITR/CPC.
Refund failed	The credit was rejected by the bank — bad IFSC, unvalidated or closed account, name–PAN mismatch, or an inoperative PAN.	Fix the bank account, then raise a refund reissue request (steps below).
Refund partially adjusted / fully adjusted	An old outstanding demand was set off against this year's refund under Section 245.	Open Pending Actions → Response to Outstanding Demand and check whether the demand is even valid.
No demand, no refund	CPC computed your tax as exactly settled — often because a claim you made was disallowed.	Compare the 143(1) columns line by line; if it's wrong, file a rectification under Section 154.
Demand determined	The opposite of a refund — the department says you owe tax, typically from a mismatched TDS or income claim.	Respond within the window given; don't ignore it, interest accrues.
Refund expired / returned	An issued refund was never encashed or was returned unpaid.	Raise a refund reissue request against a validated account.

How long does an income tax refund take?

There is no statutory turnaround, but the practical pattern for AY 2026-27 is stable: most simple salaried returns are processed within 7 to 45 days of e-verification, and refunds typically land within 4 to 5 weeks. Some ITR-1 returns are processed in under a week. Returns with capital gains, foreign income, multiple Form 16s, or large deduction claims take longer, and returns picked for scrutiny take much longer.

Two structural points worth knowing. Refund issuance is now effectively fully electronic — which makes it fast but also unforgiving of any data mismatch, so a single wrong digit in an IFSC stalls the whole thing. And refunds below ₹100 are not issued; they are carried in your account rather than paid out, so a tiny refund that never arrives is usually not an error.

Refund failed? The reissue request, step by step

A failed refund is almost never a problem with your return — it is a banking data problem. Fix the cause first, because a reissue against the same broken account fails again.

Check your PAN is operative. A PAN not linked with Aadhaar is inoperative, and refunds are withheld while it stays that way (no interest accrues for that period either).
Fix the bank account: go to Profile → My Bank Account. Add or re-validate the account, confirm the IFSC is current (bank mergers silently invalidate old IFSC codes), and make sure the account holder name matches your PAN exactly.
Wait for validation to succeed — status must read Validated, and you must also nominate the account for refund. These are two separate switches, and missing the second one is the most common reason a "fixed" account still doesn't receive money.
Raise the reissue: Services → Refund Reissue → Create Refund Reissue Request, select AY 2026-27, pick the validated account, and e-verify the request.
Track it under the same menu; a successful reissue usually credits within a few weeks.

Only accounts of these types work: savings or current accounts held in your own name and linked to your PAN. A joint account where you are not the primary holder, an NRO account that isn't validated, or a relative's account will never receive your refund.

Refund adjusted against an old demand (Section 245)

If your refund silently shrank or vanished, check for a Section 245 adjustment: the department can set off a refund against tax demands from earlier years. It must give you prior intimation and a response window (typically 30 days) before doing so — and those emails are widely missed. Go to Pending Actions → Response to Outstanding Demand, and if the demand is stale, already paid, or plainly wrong, disagree with it and give the reason. Many of these old demands trace back to TDS credits that were never matched, and they persist until someone contests them.

Interest on a delayed refund — and the part people forget

Under Section 244A, the department pays 0.5% per month (6% a year) on delayed refunds. If you filed by the due date, interest runs from April 1 of the assessment year to the date the refund is granted; file late and it runs only from your filing date. No interest is payable when the refund is less than 10% of the tax determined.

The forgotten part: this interest is taxable as income from other sources, in the year you receive it. So a 244A interest credit received now belongs in next year's return — and it will already be sitting in your AIS, waiting to become a mismatch if you leave it out.

Still nothing? Escalation order

Read the 143(1) intimation first. Most "missing refund" cases are actually a reduced or nil refund the taxpayer never opened the email about.
Rectification (Section 154) — use it when the intimation itself is wrong, such as a TDS credit the system ignored: Services → Rectification.
Grievance — Services → Grievances on the portal, tagged to CPC-ITR, for a refund that is stuck with no explanation.
Helpdesk — the e-filing helpline (1800 103 0025 / 1800 419 0025) for portal and processing issues; SBI's CPC refund banker desk handles credit failures once the refund has been issued. Current numbers are listed on the portal's Contact Us page.
Condonation of delay — if you missed e-verifying within 30 days and the return lapsed, you can request condonation under Services → Condonation Request rather than losing the refund entirely.

Frequently asked questions

Can I check refund status by PAN alone, without an acknowledgement number?

Yes — logging in with your PAN and going to View Filed Returns needs no acknowledgement number. The acknowledgement number is only needed for the pre-login ITR status check.

Why does my refund show as issued but my bank shows no credit?

Give it 3–7 working days from the "sent to refund banker" date. After that, verify the masked account number on the portal is the account you expect — refunds often go to an older validated account people have stopped using.

Can I change the bank account for a refund after filing?

Yes. Add and pre-validate the new account under My Bank Account, nominate it for refund, and raise a refund reissue request. You do not need to revise the return for this.

Does a revised return restart the refund clock?

Yes. Processing shifts to the revised return, so a revision filed while the original was still under processing resets the timeline. Revised returns for AY 2026-27 are allowed until March 31, 2027 — see how to file a revised return.

Is my income tax refund taxable?

The refund itself is not — it is your own excess tax coming back. Only the Section 244A interest paid along with it is taxable.

Related tools and guides

Work out whether a refund was even due with the Income Tax Calculator, settle the regime question using the regime comparison tool, and check your exemption with the HRA calculator. For the filing process itself, see how to file your ITR (AY 2026-27); for the regime decision, old vs new regime choice and the breakeven analysis. Filing and payment deadlines are collected on the income tax due dates page.

Portal menus and processing timelines change between filing seasons — when something here doesn't match what you see on screen, incometax.gov.in is the authority. This is general education, not personalized tax advice.