Key Changes for AY 2024-25

Previously, up to AY 2023-24, taxpayers had to select a specific bank account in their ITR for receiving refunds, which needed to be pre-validated on the IT Portal. However, starting from AY 2024-25, the option to select a bank account for refund credit in the ITR has been removed. Now, refunds will be credited to any pre-validated bank account on the portal.

If you have multiple pre-validated accounts on the IT Portal, the refund will be credited to one of them where the option to receive a refund is selected.

Eligible Accounts for Refunds

The department can issue refunds to the following types of accounts:

• Savings Accounts
• Current Accounts
• Cash Credit Accounts
• Over Draft Accounts
• Non-Resident Ordinary Accounts

Attempting to pre-validate any other type of account will result in a bank validation failure, and the system will display an “Invalid Account” error.

Refunds cannot be issued to bank accounts that are closed, dormant, invalid, under litigation, or blocked.

Crucial Steps for Bank Account Validation for Income Tax Refund:

The most important task in refund cases is to check the validation status of the bank account where you want to receive the tax refund before uploading any ITR forms.

Prerequisites for Bank Account Validation for Income Tax Refund:

• Assessee must be registered on the e-Filing portal.
• PAN must be linked with the bank account which is to be pre-validated.

Actions Based on Validation Failure Reasons

PAN not linked with bank account

• For a single account, contact your branch to link your bank account with your PAN, then re-validate it.
• For a joint account, the portal validates information with the 1st account holder. If you are the 2nd account holder, validate your single bank account or the bank account where you are the 1st account holder.

To file your Income Tax Return and to get the refund, Contact Us

Name mismatch

• If your name as per PAN is correct, contact your branch to update your name in the bank account as per PAN.
• If your name as per the bank account is correct, get your name corrected on your PAN.
• Once the names match in both bank and PAN records, re-validate your bank account.

Bank Account Number mismatch

Enter the correct bank account number and then re-validate your bank account.

Account number does not exist

Enter the correct bank account number and then re-validate your bank account.

Invalid IFSC

Get the correct IFSC Code from your cheque book or pass book or directly from the bank and enter the correct IFSC then re-validate your bank account.

Bank account closed/inactive/dormant/litigated/frozen/blocked

• If your bank account is dormant/closed/inactive/litigated/frozen/blocked, you will need to use a different bank account for validation.
• If your bank account is active, contact your branch to understand the reason for the validation issue because the income tax department validates the bank account with the details shared by the bank. Once the bank has updated this, re-validate your bank account.

Important Points to Remember about Bank Account Validation for Income Tax Refund:

• Only a pre-validated bank account can be nominated to receive an Income Tax refund.
• An assessee can pre-validate multiple bank accounts and can nominate more than one bank account for the Income Tax refund.
• An assessee can also nominate one bank account for the Income Tax refund and another bank account for EVC purposes.
• EVC can be enabled for only one bank account at any point in time. If you try to enable EVC for another pre-validated account, the portal will ask for your confirmation to disable EVC for the existing account. Accordingly, only one of the bank accounts will be EVC enabled.
• EVC can be enabled only for banks integrated with e-Filing. The list of e-Filing integrated banks can be found on the Income Tax Portal page.
• The pre-validation process is automatic and once your request is submitted, it is sent to your bank for validation. Typically, the bank account will be validated and updated in your e-Filing account within 10-12 working days.