If your income tax returns have not been processed yet or you're seeing a delay in getting tax refunds, the reason may be a lack of e-verification.
Upon filing your tax returns through the department's online portal the data is simply submitted to the Income Tax Department. The Central Processing Centre (CPC) starts working on it only when the ITR is e-verified. Without this verification, the ITR is treated as invalid.
This e-verifying process has to be done using Aadhaar OTP or through net-banking. Here's how you can do it:
1. Visit the Department's e-filing portal (https://www.incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in/home) and click on the red flashing "e-Verify Return" option under the Quick Links section. Enter your PAN, assessment year (this will be a year ahead of the financial year, so in this case, 2019-20) and acknowledgment number.
Alternatively, you can log in with your PAN and password and then go to the "My Account" section before clicking on "e-Verify Return".
2. Upon clicking on e-Verify you will be shown three options regarding what state of the verification process you're at.
These will be:
a. I already have an EVC (electronic verification) to e-verify my return.
b. I do not have an EVC and I would like to generate EVC to e-verify my return.
c. I would like to use Aadhaar OTP to e-verify my return.
In this case, you will need to click on the second option and generate an EVC using net-banking, bank account number or demat account. The portal is likely to already have these details as they had to be mandatorily filled while you were filing ITR.
3. One of the simplest ways in which you can generate the EVC is by using the Aadhaar OTP sent to your registered mobile number. An email confirmatory message is also sent to your email. The Income Tax Department will use data from UIDAI to verify your credentials.
4. Enter the OTP to successfully finish the e-verification process. An acknowledgment will be sent to you after that. You may also be sent an ITR-V Acknowledgement – Submission to CPC. ITR-V stands for 'Income Tax Return–Verification' Form
