No income tax refunds without bank account-PAN linking

The Income Tax Department will "only" issue refunds via the e-mode into bank accounts of taxpayers beginning next month and they should link PAN with their accounts, the taxman said in its latest public communication.

The department said refunds will be sent to bank accounts as it will issue "only e-refunds from March 1, 2019."

Link your PAN(permanent account number) with your bank account to get your refund directly, swiftly and securely, the department said in a public advisory issued Wednesday. It added the bank account could be either savings, current, cash or overdraft.

Till now, the department used to issue refunds to taxpayers either in their bank accounts or through account payee cheques, in a case-to-case basis depending on the category of taxpayers.


How to check if your bank account is linked to PAN

To check if your bank account is linked to your PAN, log in to the income tax e-filing portal with your user ID and password, go to your profile setting where you will find the option to pre-validate your bank account.

If not done already, the pre-validation can be accomplished easily by providing your bank account name, number and IFSC code.

If your bank is integrated with the e-filing portal, pre-validation will be done directly through EVC and net banking route. If your bank is not integrated, then the income tax department will validate the bank account from the details provided by you.

If you find that your PAN is not linked, then provide your PAN details to your bank branch.