e-Nivaran Grievance: Picking the Right Department and Category

A grievance on e-Nivaran goes to whichever office you pick on the first screen. Choose CPC-ITR for a refund that the Centralised Processing Centre owes you and it reaches the team that can act on it. Choose Assessing Officer for the same problem and it lands with your jurisdictional officer, who may only be able to forward it. The first choice decides who reads it.

The form itself is short. You pick a department, a category, the applicable Act and a subcategory, add the assessment year or tax year, and write at least 100 characters explaining the problem. This guide maps the common problems to the right boxes and shows what a useful description looks like.

Before you raise a grievance

e-Nivaran is for a problem the department has not fixed through its normal route. Several issues have their own service on the portal, and a grievance filed instead of that service can be closed with a pointer back to it.

Raise the grievance when that route has been used and nothing has moved (the guides on a demand after paying tax and a failed refund walk through those routes), or when the portal itself fails. A grievance also does not pause any statutory deadline. If an appeal, a rectification window or a notice reply is due, file that on time and mention it in the grievance.

The four departments

The e-Filing portal's grievance manual lists four departments. Each has its own list of categories.

• e-filing: problems with the portal and its services. Categories include Filing of ITR, Password, e-filing Portal Access, Profile, Rectification Related, Unable to verfiy/e-verify (the portal's own spelling), e-Proceedings, Forms Related, JSON Utility Related and Mobile App.
• CPC-ITR: anything about how your return is processed at CPC. The categories are COMMUNICATION, DEMAND, ITR-V, PROCESSING, RECTIFICATION and REFUND.
• Assessing Officer (AO): matters with your jurisdictional officer. Categories include Refund not received, Incorrect demand to be corrected by AO, Rectification matters pending with AO, Appeal Effect order not received, Default by TDS deductor, PAN Status and Others.
• CPC-TDS: TDS and TCS records kept by the TDS centre. Categories include Inaccuracy of TDS/TCS in Form 26AS/Annual Tax Statement, Form 26AS/ATS Related, 26QB/26QC/26QD/26QE related issues, Downloading TDS/TCS Certificates related issues and Others.

The rule of thumb: if the order or intimation came from CPC (a 143(1) intimation, a CPC rectification order, a refund CPC issued), pick CPC-ITR. If an officer passed the order (an assessment order, an appeal effect, a demand the AO raised), pick Assessing Officer. If the portal broke while you were doing something, pick e-filing.

Which category for which problem

If your TDS is missing because the deductor never filed its TDS return or quoted a wrong PAN, ask the deductor to correct it first. A grievance cannot add a credit the deductor has not reported. The AIS, TIS and Form 26AS guide explains where each credit shows up.

Applicable Act and the year

The form now asks for the Applicable Act: Income Tax Act, 2025 or Income Tax Act, 1961. The Income-tax Act, 2025 applies from 1 April 2026, but returns, intimations, refunds and demands for AY 2026-27 and earlier years are still handled under the 1961 Act.

• A refund, demand, rectification or return for AY 2026-27 or any earlier year: choose Income Tax Act, 1961 and enter the Assessment Year.
• Something that belongs to Tax Year 2026-27 (income from 1 April 2026), such as a challan paid for that tax year or TDS deducted after 1 April 2026: choose Income Tax Act, 2025 and enter the Tax Year.

AY 2026-27 is the return for income earned from April 2025 to March 2026, so in August 2026 almost every refund and processing grievance belongs under the 1961 Act.

How to submit the grievance

1. Log in at incometax.gov.in.
2. Go to Grievances > Submit Grievance.
3. Select the department, or type your issue in the search box.
4. Select the category, the applicable Act and the subcategory, then click Continue.
5. Fill in the details the category asks for, such as the assessment year or tax year.
6. Write the description (at least 100 characters) and attach documents if they help. Attachments are optional.
7. Click Submit Grievance and note the Grievance Acknowledgement Number.

If you have no PAN or TAN login, scroll to Contact Us on the portal's home page, click Grievances, choose I do not have a PAN/TAN, and verify your name, email and mobile number with an OTP before following the same steps.

Writing a description that gets acted on

The officer reading it sees your PAN and the boxes you picked. Give them the facts they would otherwise have to look up, in the order they need them.

A weak description: "My refund has not come. Please help, it has been many months."

A useful one:

AY 2026-27. Return filed 18/07/2026, e-verified the same day. Intimation u/s 143(1) dated 05/08/2026 determined a refund of ₹21,700. Portal shows refund failed on 09/08/2026 with reason "account not validated". Bank account re-validated on 11/08/2026 and refund reissue request submitted on 12/08/2026 (Transaction ID attached). No credit as of 26/08/2026. Request reissue of ₹21,700 to the validated account.

It names the year, the order and its date, the amount, what has already been tried and what you want done. Attach the intimation, a screenshot of the refund status and the reissue acknowledgement as PDFs. Leave out passwords, OTPs and full bank account numbers; the last four digits are enough.

Tracking it

• After login: Grievances > View Grievance Status. You can filter by date logged, department and status.
• Without login: on the home page, under Contact Us, click View Grievance and enter the acknowledgement number and the mobile number you used.

The portal does not publish a fixed resolution time for e-Nivaran. If a grievance is closed without the problem being fixed, file a fresh one that quotes the old acknowledgement number and says what is still wrong. The portal also gives the address <webmanager@incometax.gov.in> as a contact, though it recommends the logged-in grievance form. Beyond the department, the Government's general grievance portal, CPGRAMS at pgportal.gov.in, accepts complaints about any ministry.

If you are following a refund or demand for yourself and family members, myutils.me shows each PAN's ITR status, refund status with the bank reference, and outstanding demands after you add the PAN or press Sync. That helps you see what changed before you write the grievance. The grievance itself is filed on the portal.

FAQ

Is e-Nivaran the same as replying to a notice?

No. A notice in e-Proceedings needs a reply inside e-Proceedings by its due date. e-Nivaran is a complaint channel for service problems, such as a refund that has not arrived or a rectification with no order.

I picked the wrong department. Should I file again?

If the reply says the matter belongs elsewhere, file a new grievance with the right department and quote the first acknowledgement number. Don't file duplicates for the same issue while one is still open with the right office.

Which Act do I pick for my AY 2026-27 refund?

The Income Tax Act, 1961, with the assessment year 2026-27. Returns, refunds and demands for AY 2026-27 and earlier stay under the 1961 Act even though the 2025 Act applies from 1 April 2026.

How long should I wait before raising a grievance about processing?

The portal's refund guide expects a refund about 4 to 5 weeks after e-verification, and returns can take longer in busy months. The guide to e-verified returns that aren't processed lists the checks to run before you complain.

Sources

• Submit Grievances user manual, Income Tax e-Filing portal
• Respond to Outstanding Demand FAQ, Income Tax e-Filing portal
• Refund Reissue user manual, Income Tax e-Filing portal
• Challan Correction user manual, Income Tax e-Filing portal
• Refund Status user manual, Income Tax e-Filing portal
• CPGRAMS, Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances