Income Tax Refund Delay Update: Why File Revised ITR By New Years Eve? Will December 31 Deadline Be Extended?

Many taxpayers are still frustrated over the delay of their ITR refund. However, in the recent days, the Income Tax department has sent a series of emails and SMS to respective taxpayers in regard to certain transactions made by them. Apart from this, the IT department has issued a host of guidance for taxpayers to rectify any mistakes, revise returns, or file their belated ITR. It needs to be noted that your refund could be stuck if you do not file a revised ITR.

Upcoming Income Tax Return Filing Deadline:

The CBDT issued a notification, saying, "it is advised that the concerned taxpayers review their ITRs, verify the correctness of their deduction and exemption claims, and revise their returns, if required, within the prescribed time by 31st December 2025, so as to avoid further enquiries in the matter."

Further, the department said, taxpayers whose deduction or exemption claims are genuine and correctly made in accordance with law are not required to take any further action.

Data given by the authority revealed that more than 21 lakh taxpayers have already updated their ITRs for financial year 2025-26 and assessment year 2024-25. These taxpayers paid more than Rs 2,500 crore in taxes. Additionally, 15 lakh ITRs have already been revised for the current assessment year which is AY FY25-26.

Why Your Income Tax Refund Could Be Delayed?

Many taxpayers have complained regarding not receiving refund even after filing ITR way before the initial deadline of July 31.

While some of the common reasons to why you still did not receive your refund are:

- In case the bank account is not pre-validated. It is now compulsory to pre-validate your bank account.

- The name mentioned in the bank account does not match with PAN card details.

- In case of an invalid IFSC code.

- If the account that you have mentioned in the ITR has been closed.

If there is any mistake in filing your initial ITR for a financial year, you can always rectify your mistakes by filing a revised ITR to claim a refund.

But beyond these common mistakes, there is another reason to why you did not receive your refund after ITR. The IT department has observed that certain taxpayers have claimed ineligible refunds by availing deductions or exemptions to which they are not entitled, resulting in understatement of income.

This is why the department uses its risk management framework for advanced data analytics on cases for Assessment Year (AY) 2025-26 that have been identified.

CBDT notified that "the framework includes instances where bogus donations to Registered Unrecognized Political Parties(RUPPs) and other ineligible deductions or exemptions appear to have been claimed in the Income-tax Returns (ITRs). It has also been observed that, in some cases, either incorrect PANs or invalid PANs of donees have been quoted. Some cases also contain errors relating to the extent of deduction or exemption claimed."

What Should Taxpayers Do If They Are Under Risk Management Framework?

The department directed that the identified taxpayers are being requested through SMS and email under the "Nonintrusive Usage of Data to Guide and Enable (NUDGE)" campaign to correct such errors, inview of the due date for filing revised ITRs by 31st December 2025.

Hence, it is important you file your revised ITR if you have received a SMS for the department to process your refund seamlessly.

The framework focuses on trust-first approach to tax administration, under which taxpayers are provided an opportunity to review their Income-tax Returns (ITRs) and voluntarily correct any ineligible claims, wherever required. The campaign leverages data analytics and technology to enable transparent, non-intrusive, and taxpayer-centric compliance environment, with an emphasis on guidance and voluntary compliance.

Revised ITR Filing Deadline Extension:

Many taxpayers have urged IT department to extend the December 31st deadline to file revised ITR and belated ITR. A CA through X said, "Kindly Extend The Due date of Revised & Belated Returns till 31st March 2026. As You have sent majority of notices in last week of due dates and also ITR (Audit) is still Under Process. Hence, Logically Date Should be extended without any demand and delay."

Meanwhile, another user said, "Kindly extend the Due Date for Belated/Revised ITR by 1 month to 31/01/2026 - After 31/12/2025 tax payer can filed Updated ITR but through Updated ITR he cant claim Tax Refund and also Additional 25% Tax will be there on Tax Liability." This user added, "This year due to extension of original dates the time period for Revision of ITR get Reduced."

However, it needs to be noted that you can still file your update return from January 1st of 2926 to pay additional tax liability.

"It is clarified that taxpayers who do not avail of this opportunity may still file an updated return from 1st January 2026, as permitted under law, subject to payment of additional tax liability," said IT department.

Who Should File Revised ITR By December 31?

A taxpayer who is required to file revised ITR is the one who discovers any omission or any wrong statement in the original Income Tax Return (ITR) submitted, the same can be corrected by filing a revised return in the e-Filing portal. A revised return can be filed at any time before the end of relevant Assessment Year (A.Y.) or before the completion of assessment, whichever is earlier.

How To File Revised ITR?

Step 1: Go to the Income Tax e-Filing portal, 'www.incometax.gov.in'

Step 2: Login to e-Filing portal by entering user ID (PAN/AADHAAR), Confirm secure access message, Password and click 'Login'.

Step 3: Click on the 'e-File' menu and click 'Income Tax Return' link on e-File Income tax return.

Step 4: On income tax return page:

- Select 'Assessment Year'

- Select Mode of filing - Online

- Select the Status of the assessee

- Select 'ITR form Number'

Step 5: In the Online ITR Form, under 'Personal Information' Tab, 'Filing Section' will be prefilled as '139(5) Revised-return revised after filing original return'.

Step 6. The details of the "Receipt number" and 'Date of filing of the original return' will be pre-filled.

It needs to be noted that for the Paper Filed Original returns if the acknowledgement number received is less than 15 digits then the acknowledgement number will be prefilled after suffix with Zero.

Step 7: Fill the relevant details of the online ITR form and submit the ITR.

Step 8: e-Verify the returns for faster processing and quicker refunds or Send the ITR-V through normal or speed post to "Centralized Processing Center, Income Tax Department, Bengaluru-560500"