income tax refund
For millions of taxpayers, the wait for income tax refund this year has become longer than usual. Now only six days are left before December 31, which is the last date to file revised and late ITR for AY 2025-26. In such a situation, it is natural for those people who have not yet received any update from the tax department to be worried.
Why are the figures increasing concern?
Till December 25, 2025, about 8.53 crore Income Tax Returns (ITR) have been filed in the current assessment year. Of these, 8.41 crore returns have been verified, but so far only 7.80 crore returns have been processed. That means there are about 73 lakh taxpayers whose returns have not been processed yet and the wait for refund (if made) continues.
Why are refunds getting delayed this year?
According to government data, tax refunds worth Rs 2.97 lakh crore were issued between April 1 and December 17, 2025. This is about 13.5% less than the same period last year. This decline in the figures till November was about 18%.
According to the tax department, there are two major reasons for the delay
First, closer scrutiny of large amount or doubtful deductions and exemption claims. Secondly, late issuance of ITR forms, due to which the entire processing cycle got pushed back. Especially the refunds of non-corporate taxpayers have been affected more this time.
What is the tax department investigating?
According to CBDT Chairman Ravi Aggarwal, now the department is identifying false or risky claims with the help of advanced data analytics. This includes cases like fake donations, donations to unrecognized political parties, wrong deductions or exemptions and wrong PAN of the recipients of donations. Such returns are flagged and manually scrutinized, which takes more time.
Why your refund may be stuck
If the refund has not yet come, it could be due to errors in ITR and Form 26AS or AIS, wrong deduction claim, problem with PAN or bank account verification or the return being selected for deep verification.
what should you do now
- December 31st is near, so instead of sitting idle, take these steps
- Check refund status on Income Tax e-filing portal or TIN-NSDL website
- Read emails and SMS carefully, the department often asks for clarification
- If necessary, file revised return before December 31, 2025
- If no response is received for a long time, file a complaint on the e-filing portal.
- Contact helpline number 1800-103-0025 or 1800-419-0025
Government’s NUDGE campaign before the deadline
To reduce disputes and delays, CBDT has started the NUDGE campaign, so that taxpayers can correct incorrect claims on their own. CBDT says that some taxpayers have claimed such exemptions and deductions to which they were not entitled.
trust based initiative
CBDT made it clear that this is a trust-first initiative. Those whose claims are correct do not need to do anything. Data shows that more than 21 lakh taxpayers have paid more than Rs 2,500 crore tax by updating returns of old years, while more than 15 lakh returns for AY 2025-26 have been revised. The department’s advice is clear, check your return carefully before December 31, make corrections if necessary, otherwise you may have to pay more tax and inquiries later.