Refund Tracking
"Refund on Hold Under Risk Management" SMS: Is It a Notice?
An SMS says your ITR refund is on hold under the risk management process. What it means, how it differs from a notice, and when to revise, give AIS feedback or wait.
myutils.me8 min read
An SMS from the Income Tax Department says the processing of your return has been held because it was identified under the risk management process, and it mentions the deadline for a revised return. No section is quoted, no reply form is attached and the refund you claimed has not arrived.
The short answer: the message is an advisory, not a notice that demands a reply. It tells you that CPC's systems flagged the refund claim for a closer look, usually because the return doesn't match what employers, banks and other reporting entities told the department, or because a deduction looks out of line. What you do next depends on whether your return is actually wrong.
Where these messages come from
The department ran this campaign in December 2025 for AY 2025-26 returns. Taxpayers got an SMS and a follow-up email saying that processing was on hold under the risk management process and that the time to file a revised return for AY 2025-26 would end on 31 December 2025. The department commented on the alerts publicly on its official X account in late December 2025.
Reports of the campaign described reasons such as a large refund claimed out of TDS on salary, deductions or exemptions that looked ineligible, or a gap between the income in the return and the information reported to the department in AIS. These are the same triggers as the department's NUDGE campaigns, which we cover in NUDGE emails and what to do.
If you get a similar message about an AY 2026-27 return, the same approach applies, with the AY 2026-27 deadlines below.
Is it a notice?
A statutory notice or order from the department is issued under a specific section, carries a Document Identification Number (DIN) and shows up on the portal under Pending Actions, either in the Worklist or in e-Proceedings. You can check whether a document is genuine with the Authenticate notice/order issued by ITD service on the portal's home page.
The risk-management SMS does none of that. It asks you to review your own return. It doesn't by itself require a response, and ignoring it is not a default the way ignoring a notice is. But if the return is wrong, CPC can still reduce the refund or raise a demand when it processes it, and a scrutiny notice can follow. So treat the SMS as a prompt to check, not as something to dismiss or panic over.
What to check, in order
- Read the email. The SMS usually points to an email on your registered address with the specific reason. Check spam, and check the email ID under My Profile is current.
- Look at Pending Actions. Log in at incometax.gov.in and open Pending Actions > Worklist and Pending Actions > e-Proceedings. If there is an item, follow it. An item there is a formal communication with its own deadline.
- Compare your return with AIS, Form 26AS and Form 16. Open the filed return under e-File > Income Tax Returns > View Filed Returns, and set it beside your AIS and Form 26AS for the same year.
- Check your deductions against your proof. If you claimed HRA, section 80C, 80D, 80G or home-loan interest, make sure you have the receipts and that the amounts are right.
Three situations and what to do
| What you find | What to do |
|---|---|
| Your return has a mistake (missed income, a deduction you can't support) | File a revised return. If the time for that has passed, an updated return (ITR-U) is the remaining route, with extra tax. |
| AIS is wrong and your return is right | Give feedback on the AIS entry. Don't revise a correct return to match wrong data. |
| Return matches AIS and every claim has proof | Do nothing further. Keep your proof ready in case CPC or an officer asks for it. |
A worked example
Anil, a salaried employee, filed his AY 2026-27 return claiming a refund of ₹64,800. His Form 16 showed TDS of ₹1,92,000. In the return he also claimed ₹1,50,000 under section 80C and ₹46,000 of HRA exemption that his employer had not allowed because he didn't submit rent receipts in time.
He gets the SMS. When he compares, the 80C claim matches his PPF and ELSS statements, but he cannot produce rent receipts or a rent agreement for four of the twelve months. He revises the return to claim HRA only for the eight months he can prove. That lowers his refund, but the revised return is what CPC now processes, and he keeps proof for everything he still claims.
If his rent receipts had covered all twelve months, he would not need to revise. He would keep the receipts, rent agreement and landlord's PAN ready and wait for processing.
The deadlines for AY 2026-27
For AY 2026-27 (income earned in FY 2025-26), the Finance Act, 2026 allows a revised return until 31 March 2027, or until the assessment is completed if that is earlier. A revised return filed after 31 December 2026 attracts a fee under section 234-I (₹1,000 if total income doesn't exceed ₹5 lakh, ₹5,000 otherwise), so revise before then if you need to. After the revised return window closes, an updated return under section 139(8A) is possible, but it can't increase a refund and it carries additional tax.
These returns are still handled under the Income-tax Act, 1961. The Income-tax Act, 2025 applies from Tax Year 2026-27, whose returns are filed in 2027.
How long the hold lasts
There is no published timeline for clearing a return flagged under risk management. The flag is on processing, so the refund arrives only when the return is processed and the 143(1) intimation is issued. CPC has to process a return within nine months from the end of the financial year in which it was filed. For an AY 2026-27 return filed in 2026, that means by 31 December 2027.
While you wait, our guides on returns that are e-verified but not processed and every refund status message explain what each status means.
Beware of fake refund messages
Real messages about your return don't ask you to click a link and enter bank details, card numbers or OTPs to "release" a refund. Refunds go only to a bank account you have pre-validated on the portal. If a message asks for any of that, don't respond, and log in to the portal directly to check your status.
If you file for several family members, myutils.me shows each PAN's ITR status, AIS and refund status in one place after you add the PAN or press Sync. It is an independent app; it doesn't respond to the department for you.
FAQ
Is the "refund on hold under risk management" SMS a notice?
No. It is an advisory asking you to review your return. A statutory notice carries a DIN and appears under Pending Actions on the portal, and you can authenticate it on the portal's home page.
Do I have to revise my return after getting this SMS?
Only if the return is wrong. If your figures match AIS and you have proof for every deduction, there is nothing to revise. Revising a correct return only to make the message go away gains nothing.
What if the AIS figure that triggered the flag is wrong?
Give feedback on that AIS entry through the AIS feedback option. AIS then shows your modified value beside the reported one, and in some cases the reporting source is asked to confirm it. See our guide to submitting AIS feedback.
Will I lose interest on the refund while it is on hold?
Refund interest generally runs until the refund is granted, but if your revised return reduces the refund, interest is worked out on the lower amount. The refund interest guide shows how it is calculated.
Can I call someone about it?
Use e-Nivaran (Grievances > Submit Grievance, department CPC-ITR) if the return stays unprocessed for long after you have checked everything. It won't remove a risk flag, but it puts your query on record.
Sources
Topics
- Risk Management Process
- Refund on Hold
- Revised Return
- AIS Feedback
- AY 2026-27
- AIS
- ITR Refund
- Form 26AS
- Income Tax Notice
- ITR-U
- Section 143(2)
myutils.me
Written by the team behind myutils.me, a free, independent app that brings ITR status, refunds and AIS/TIS for each PAN into one dashboard. Check anything important against the Income Tax portal before you act on it.
