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How to Pre-validate Bank Account to Get Income Tax Refund Amount?

By Ektha Surana

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Updated on: Jul 26th, 2023

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10 min read

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If you find that you have overpaid your income tax or if there was an excess tax deduction at source (TDS), there's no need to worry. You have the option to claim a refund for the excess amount when filing your income tax returns. Once you file your returns, the income tax department will review them and process the refund. It's important to note that refunds are now transferred electronically to your bank account linked with your PAN (effective from 1st March 2019).

To ensure a successful refund process, you must pre-validate your bank account on the income tax e-filing portal. Read the guide below on how to pre-validate your bank account.

How to Pre-Validate a Bank Account?

Taxpayers will receive their income tax refund only if their bank account is linked with their PAN (Permanent Account Number). For this purpose, you should “pre-validate your bank account” under the income tax e-filing page.

Online procedure to a pre-validate bank account

Step 1: Visit the income tax e-filing portal at www.incometax.gov.in.

Step 2: Click on the 'Login' option and provide your login credentials (You can choose either PAN or Aadhaar for logging in).

Step 3: Go to ‘My Profile’ and select ‘My Bank Account’ from the left pane.

Step 4: Select the ‘Add Bank Account’ button.

 

Step 5: Enter bank details such as bank account number, account type, account holder type, IFSC code, bank name and bank branch. Ensure that the PAN, name, mobile number, and email address provided match those registered with your bank account to ensure successful pre-validation. Therefore, before proceeding, make sure to link or update your PAN with your bank account.

Step 6: Next, click on the ‘Validate’ button. You have submitted the request for validating the bank account.

Step 7: The pre-validation process is automatic. Your bank details and request will be sent to your bank. The validation status will be updated on the portal within 24 hours. 

  • If the validation is successful, your bank account details will appear in the ‘Added Bank Accounts’ tab with the status ‘Validated and EVC enabled’.
  • If the validation fails, the details are displayed under ‘Failed Bank Accounts’ tab. The failed bank accounts can be re-submitted for re-validation.

Note: EVC can be enabled only for one bank account. In case you have added multiple bank accounts, you may click on the 3 vertical dots for a particular bank account & enable EVC

Check the status of your request

You can check the status of your request in the following ways:

  • Upon clicking ‘Pre-validate’ button, you will be redirected to a screen that says, “Your request for pre-validating bank account is submitted. The validation process is in progress and the status will be updated shortly.”
  • Visit the income tax e-filing website and log in. Click the ‘My Bank Account’ option under the ‘Profile Settings’ tab. The status of your request will be displayed.
  • If the bank account validation has failed, the information on the same will be displayed. You can add/remove bank account after 24 hours. 
    You must also know that mobile number or email address cannot be changed without revalidation from the bank.

Common Validation Errors on Income Tax Portal

ErrorReasonsSolution
Restricted RefundName mismatch between the PAN & Bank> Update the name on PAN or name in bank records
PAN - Bank account - IFSC linkage failedPAN not available with bank> Contact branch to link your PAN with the bank account or update KYC
> Submit re-validation request
Invalid IFSCIn case of bank mergers, the IFSC code may change> Click Re-Validate, 
> Enter the correct IFSC 
> Submit re-validation request
Account number does not existWrong account number entered> Click Re-Validate 
> Enter the correct bank account number 
> Submit re-validation request
- Bank account closed / inactive
- Zero balance / Inactive account
- Litigated Account
- Account frozen or blocked
Unusable bank account> Click Re-Validate, 
> Try with a different bank account number. 

Illustration

Consider a case where your name in PAN card has a mistake in how the name is spelt. If your name is ‘Ramesh Kumar’ as per your birth certificate, Aadhaar, bank passbook, and driving license, but says ‘Ramesh Talmaar’ in your PAN. You have no clue that it can be corrected and you have been using the same card. You need to correct your PAN data and link the same with Aadhaar.

Now, you have quoted the PAN while pre-validating the bank account on income tax e-filing portal, you can check the status of your request after 36 hours of the request. Your request will be rejected as the name in PAN does not match the name associated with the bank account.

As per the latest provision amended during the Budget 2019, you can use Aadhaar number in place of PAN for return filing. This provision proves useful in the case of the example above. Ramesh can validate his bank account using Aadhaar card (his name is correct in Aadhaar card). At the same time, it is essential that the PAN is corrected and linked with the Aadhaar in the e-filing portal.

Frequently Asked Questions

How to link a bank account to income tax refund?

Taxpayers will receive their income tax refund only if their bank account is linked with their PAN (Permanent Account Number). For this purpose, you should “pre-validate your bank account” under the income tax e-filing portal at www.incometax.gov.in. You must log in to the e-filing portal and update your bank account. The procedure is explained below. log on to income tax portal> click on Profile > My Bank Account > Add Bank Account> add bank details on the screen displayed. And click on ‘Validate’. Status of request will be sent to your email ID and mobile number. In case the validation fails, the information will be displayed under Profile settings> My Bank Account.

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Related Articles

How to E-verify your Income Tax Return using Bank Account
How to file ITR ( Income Tax Returns ) 
 

About the Author

Multitasking between pouring myself coffees and poring over the ever-changing tax laws. Here, I've authored 100+ blogs on income tax and simplified complex income tax topics like the intimidating crypto tax rules, old vs new tax regime debate, changes in debt funds taxation, budget analysis and more. Some combinations I like- tax and content, finance & startups, technology & psychology, fitness & neuroscience. Read more

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