How to Track Income Tax Refund Status Online in 2026 (Step-by-Step Guide)

A refund moves through three places. Your return is processed at CPC (the Centralised Processing Centre in Bengaluru), CPC sends the refund order to the refund banker, and the banker credits your account. Each place shows its own status, so the message you see depends on where you look.

Here is a worked example for AY 2026-27 (FY 2025-26). Your employer deducted ₹1,94,000 as TDS, and the tax on your total income works out to ₹1,72,300. You claim a refund of ₹21,700 in your ITR. Once CPC agrees with that figure, it shows up in a 143(1) intimation and then on your bank statement. The steps below show how to follow it.

Check the status on the Income Tax e-Filing portal

This is the most complete view, because it shows the return's processing and the refund together.

1. Log in at incometax.gov.in with your PAN as the user ID.
2. Go to e-File > Income Tax Returns > View Filed Returns.
3. Find the return for the assessment year. AY 2026-27 is the return for income earned between April 2025 and March 2026.
4. Read the status and the timeline under it. It lists the dates the return was filed, verified and processed.
5. Click View Details to see the full history for that return, including the refund once it has been issued.

The portal's home page also has a Know Your Refund Status service that works without logging in. You enter your PAN, the assessment year and your mobile number, then confirm with an OTP.

Older refunds: the refund banker page (Protean)

CPC sends approved refunds to the refund banker. Protean (formerly NSDL e-Gov) runs a refund status page, but it now covers only older refunds: its form lists assessment years up to 2022-23, and it directs refunds paid after 31 March 2023 to the e-Filing portal. For an AY 2026-27 refund, use the portal. Why the two can disagree is covered in refund status messages: portal vs Protean.

What each status means

The exact wording changes from time to time, but these are the messages you are most likely to see.

Reading the 143(1) intimation

The intimation u/s 143(1) is CPC's summary of your return. It is emailed from CPC as a password-protected PDF, and the password is your PAN in lower case followed by your date of birth as DDMMYYYY. It sets your figures beside CPC's, line by line. If the refund there is lower than the one you claimed, the row with the difference shows where it came from. The usual culprits are a TDS entry missing from Form 26AS or a deduction CPC did not allow.

When CPC processes a return filed by the due date, the refund usually includes interest u/s 244A at 0.5% a month, counted from 1 April of the assessment year. The intimation shows this interest as its own line.

Why a refund gets stuck

The bank account is not pre-validated or not nominated

Refunds go only to a bank account that is pre-validated against your PAN and nominated for refund. If the name on the account doesn't match your PAN, or the account has since been closed, the credit fails.

Fix it under Profile > My Bank Account. Add or re-validate the account, wait for the status to show Validated, then turn on Nominate for Refund.

The PAN is inoperative

A PAN that is not linked to Aadhaar becomes inoperative, and no refund is issued against an inoperative PAN. Check the link under Profile > Link Aadhaar on the portal.

Your return doesn't match AIS or Form 26AS

If you claim TDS that is missing from Form 26AS, CPC will not give credit for it. The same happens with income that is lower than what your AIS shows. Either way the refund shrinks or turns into a demand. Check both statements before you file. If the deductor has made a mistake, ask them to file a corrected TDS statement.

An old demand is being adjusted

Under section 245, CPC can set off this year's refund against tax still payable for an earlier year. It first sends an intimation and gives you 30 days to respond on the portal, under Pending Actions > Response to Outstanding Demand. If you don't reply, the adjustment goes ahead.

The return was never verified

A return that isn't verified within 30 days of filing is treated as not filed. You can verify it with an Aadhaar OTP, through net banking, or with an EVC from a pre-validated bank or demat account. You can also post the signed ITR-V to CPC.

The return is under scrutiny

If a scrutiny notice u/s 143(2) is issued, the refund can be held until the assessment is complete. The notice and any later communication appear under Pending Actions > e-Proceedings.

How to request a refund reissue

If the refund failed, raise a reissue request after fixing the bank account.

1. Log in to the Income Tax e-Filing portal.
2. Go to Services > Refund Reissue.
3. Click Create Refund Reissue Request and select the failed refund.
4. Choose a pre-validated bank account that is nominated for refund.
5. Verify the request with an Aadhaar OTP, an EVC or a DSC.

The request's status then appears on the same page, and the refund's status on the portal updates once CPC has sent it again. The steps, and what to fix first, are in how to raise a refund reissue request.

Following refunds for several PANs

If you file for parents, a spouse or clients, checking each PAN on the portal means a separate login each time. myutils.me is an independent app, not affiliated with the Income Tax Department. It signs in to the portal for each PAN you add and shows ITR status for each assessment year, along with refund status, account and bank reference. Your portal password is stored encrypted and used only to sign in to the portal for you.

Data refreshes when you add a PAN, press Sync on one, or select several and press Sync selected. It does not check on a schedule. The 143(1) intimation is fetched from the portal at the moment you download it. Portal accounts with two-factor login are not supported.