Along with pre-validating the bank account, you will also need to make sure that your PAN is linked to the bank account to which the income tax refund amount is to be credited.
Abhishek Soni, CEO of Tax2Win.in, an ITR filing website, says: âThe pre-validation of the bank account and the linking of the PAN to the bank account (in which the income tax refund must be credited) are required to receive the income tax refund. If none of this is done, the tax refund will not be credited to the individual’s bank account. The Income Tax Service only issues electronic refunds which are directly credited to the bank account. ”
The Income Tax Service previously announced that from March 1, 2019, it would only issue e-refunds. These tax refunds will only be credited to bank accounts linked to PAN that are also pre-validated on the Electronic Income Tax Filing website.
Keep in mind that the government launched a new income tax portal in June 2021. Due to various issues on the portal, it may happen that your previously pre-validated bank account is not pre-validated on the new tax declaration site. Thus, it is important to check and if necessary to pre-validate the bank account again.
How to check if your bank account is pre-validated
Follow the steps below on the new income tax portal to check if your bank account is pre-validated:
Step 1: Once logged into your account on the Income Tax Portal, click on “My Profile” and select “My Bank Account” displayed on the screen.
Step 2: The screen will show you which bank accounts are pre-validated and which bank account you have selected to receive the income tax refund.
How to pre-validate your bank account
If you want to add the bank details again due to an IFS code change or if you want to add the details of a new bank account, follow these steps.
Step 1: Log into your account on the new income tax portal.
Step 2: After logging in, select âMy Profileâ which you can access by clicking on your name on the right side.
Step 3: On the screen, select âMy Bank Accountâ. Select “Add a bank account”. Enter details – bank account number, account type, account holder type, IFSC. Once the IFSC details are added, the bank name and bank branch contact details will be added automatically. Cross-check these details. The screen will also show you the cell phone number and email address related to the bank account.
Step 4: Click on ‘Validate’.
Once successfully validated, the bank account will be automatically added to your profile. You can then designate the account (on the e-filing site) to receive the income tax refund.
Due to problems on the tax portal, it may happen that your bank account is validated but on the screen it is displayed as ‘Validation in progress’. However, to check if the account is pre-validated or not, click on the three dots to the right of the box in which the name of the bank appears.
Then select “View bank details”, a pop-up window will appear on your screen indicating when the validation request was submitted and whether the bank account is validated or not and the date it is pre-validated.