How Long Does It Take to Get an Income Tax Refund?

I'd check three things before assuming the refund is delayed:

1. Whether the ITR has been processed.
2. Whether a refund has actually been determined as payable.
3. Whether the refund was issued successfully to the nominated bank account.

If the return is still under processing, there may not be anything you need to do immediately.

If the return has been processed but the refund failed, check the refund-related information on the e-Filing portal and follow the applicable reissue procedure.

Also check your email and registered mobile number for any communication from the Income Tax Department.

Processing times can vary from one return to another, so I wouldn't rely on someone else's exact number of days as a guarantee.

I had a different experience. My refund came fairly quickly after the return was processed.

One thing I'd recommend is not confusing ITR processing with refund credit. Filing and e-verifying the return doesn't necessarily mean the refund is credited to your bank account immediately.

For my return, I first waited for the processing status to change. After that, I checked the refund status separately.

If you're an NRI, also check that the bank account you have registered for the refund can receive the credit and that there isn't an issue with the account details.

If the refund fails, the Income Tax Department has a process for addressing failed refunds and requesting reissue where applicable.

My refund took longer than I expected, even though my ITR was e-verified almost immediately.

In my case, I wouldn't count the waiting period only from the date the ITR was submitted. There are several stages, including processing of the return and issuance of the refund.

I checked the Income Tax e-Filing portal periodically to see whether the return had been processed and whether the refund had been issued.

If your return has been processed and the refund has been determined, check whether the refund was issued and whether there was any communication about a failed credit.

Also make sure the bank account selected for the refund is correctly prevalidated and that the account details are current.

My experience was that there wasn't necessarily a problem just because the refund hadn't arrived immediately after e-verification.