Introduction: If you’re expecting a refund on your Income Tax Return for the assessment year (AY) 2024-25, it’s crucial to ensure your bank account is validated on the Income Tax Portal. This guide provides a comprehensive overview of the updated process for validating bank accounts, a necessary step to receive your tax refund efficiently.
Upto AY 2023-24, to ensure a smooth refund process from the CPC, you had to select a bank account in your ITR for receiving the refund, and this account needs 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.
The department can issue refunds to the following types of accounts:
a. Savings Accounts
b. Current Accounts
c. Cash Credit Accounts
d. Over Draft Accounts
e. 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.
So the most important task in refund cases is to check validation status of bank accounts in which you want credit of tax refunds before uploading any ITR forms.
The following are the prerequisites for validating the bank account on the portal:
1. Assessee must be registered on the e-Filing portal.
2. PAN must be linked with the bank account which is to be pre-validated.
If the validation still fails, take the following action based on the reason of failure:
| Reason for Failure | Action to be Taken |
| PAN not linked with bank account |
√ In case of Single Account, contact your branch to link your bank account with your PAN, then re-validate it. √ In case of Joint account, the portal validates information with the 1st account holder and if you are the 2nd account holder, validate your single bank account or the bank account where you are the 1st account holder. |
| 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 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 bank and enter the correct IFSC then re-validate your bank account. |
| Bank account closed / inactive / dormant / litigated account / Account frozen or blocked |
√ If your bank account is dormant / closed / inactive / litigated / frozen / block due to any reason, then you will have to use different bank account for validation √ If your bank account is active, contact you branch to know the reason for the same because the income tax validates the bank account with the details shared by bank. Once bank has updated this, re-validate your bank account. |
Important Points to remember:
1. Only a pre-validated bank account can be nominated to receive Income Tax refund.
2. Assessee can pre-validate multiple bank accounts and can nominate more than one bank account for Income Tax refund.
3. Assesse can also nominate one bank account for Income Tax refund and other bank account for EVC purpose.
4. EVC can be enabled for only one bank account at any point of time. If you try to enable EVC for another pre-validated account, then portal will ask for your confirmation to disable EVC for the existing account. Accordingly, either one of the bank accounts will be EVC enabled.
Note: EVC can be enabled only for banks integrated with e-Filing. The list of e-Filing integrated banks can be found on the https://eportal.incometax.gov.in/iec/foservices/#/pre-login/e-filing-integratedbanks page.
5. The pre-validation process is automatic and once your request is submitted, it is sent to your bank for validation. Normally, the bank account will be validated and updated in your e-Filing account within 10 – 12 working days.
Conclusion: Validating your bank account on the Income Tax Portal is an essential step to ensure a smooth and prompt refund process. By following the steps and resolving any validation issues as outlined, taxpayers can avoid delays and receive their income tax refunds without hassle. For any further assistance, feel free to contact me at sharshil323@gmail.com.
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