When your income tax refund shows as Refund failed, the money has not been lost. The Centralised Processing Centre (CPC) tried to credit it and the bank rejected the payment, usually because the account was closed, the name did not match the PAN, the IFSC was wrong or the account was never pre-validated. You get it back by fixing that cause first and then raising a refund reissue request on the e-filing portal, which sends the same refund again to a validated account you choose.
The order of work matters. A reissue request sent to an account that is still unvalidated, or filed while your PAN is inoperative, will fail in the same way as the first attempt. So treat it as three jobs: find out why the credit bounced, repair the bank or PAN problem, and only then file the request.
Confirm the refund actually failed, and why
Log in and go to e-File, then Income Tax Returns, then View Filed Returns. Pick the assessment year and open View Details, which shows the life cycle of that return. The Refund Status user manual lists four outcomes you may see there: refund issued, refund partially adjusted, full refund adjusted, and refund failed.
Only the last one calls for a reissue. "Partially adjusted" or "full refund adjusted" means CPC set the refund off against a demand it believes is outstanding for another year. Raising a reissue request will not help in that case; you deal with the demand instead.
The same manual names the usual reasons a credit fails:
- PAN not linked with Aadhaar, so the PAN is inoperative;
- the bank account was not pre-validated on the portal;
- the account holder's name does not match the name on the PAN;
- an invalid IFSC;
- the account given in the return has since been closed.
It also says refunds are usually credited within 4 to 5 weeks, and that processing starts only after the return is e-verified. If that time has passed and the status says nothing, look for an intimation in your email or the portal worklist before assuming a failure.
Fix the cause before you ask for the money again
Each failure reason has a different repair. The table maps them to the place where the fix happens.
| Why the refund failed | What to fix | Where |
|---|---|---|
| PAN inoperative (not linked with Aadhaar) | Link Aadhaar, paying the fee under section 234H, and wait for the PAN to become operative | e-filing portal, Link Aadhaar service |
| Account not pre-validated | Add the account and validate it | My Profile, then My Bank Account |
| Name mismatch with PAN | Get the bank to correct the name or link the PAN, then re-validate | Your bank branch, then the Failed Bank Accounts tab |
| Invalid IFSC | Correct the IFSC and validate again | My Bank Account, Re-Validate |
| Account closed | Validate a different, active account and nominate it for refund | My Bank Account |
Pre-validating the bank account
Under the My Bank Account user manual, you click Add Bank Account, enter the account number, account type, holder type and IFSC, and press Validate. The PAN must already be linked with that bank account, or validation fails. For banks integrated with the portal, the mobile number and email held by the bank are filled in automatically and cannot be edited.
Accounts that fail land on the Failed Bank Accounts tab with a reason. For integrated banks the reasons include PAN not linked, name mismatch, wrong account number, invalid IFSC, and a closed, inactive or dormant account. Non-integrated banks add a few more: zero balance or inactive account, litigated account, and an account that is frozen or blocked. Clicking Re-Validate pre-fills your details so you can correct them; the account then shows "Validation in progress" until the bank responds.
Once validated, switch on Nominate for Refund for the account you want paid into. The portal allows nomination only for Saving, Current, Cash Credit, Overdraft and Non-Resident Ordinary (NRO) accounts. An NRE account is not in that list, so a non-resident expecting a refund should keep an NRO account validated and nominated.
The Department's FAQ on the top issues raised by taxpayers adds one practical point: you may nominate an account while it still shows "Validation in progress", but the refund is credited only after the bank completes validation.
If online validation keeps failing, the Raise Service Request user manual allows an offline route. You download the ECS mandate form, fill it in, have a bank officer sign it with the bank's seal, and upload the scanned copy.
When the PAN is the problem
A PAN that is not linked with Aadhaar becomes inoperative, and that blocks refunds completely. The Department's note on the consequences of an inoperative PAN under Rule 114AAA of the Income-tax Rules, 1962 says no refund is made while the PAN is inoperative. It also says no interest is paid on that refund for the period from the date the PAN became inoperative until it becomes operative again.
The PAN is reactivated by intimating the Aadhaar number to the Department, with a fee of ₹1,000 under section 234H of the Income-tax Act, 1961 for late linking. Do this first. A reissue request filed while the PAN is still inoperative only repeats the failure, and every week of delay is a week of interest you do not get back.
Raising the refund reissue request on the e-filing portal
The Department's refund re-issue guide is clear on two points. The refund is paid only to a pre-validated bank account. And the request can be raised once you have received the refund failure communication from CPC; the portal will show only the assessment years in which a refund actually failed.
The prerequisites listed for the service are a registered e-filing login, a filed return with a refund failure, and, if you plan to verify with a bank EVC, a bank account that is "Validated and EVC enabled". With those in place:
- Log in to the e-filing portal and open Services, then Refund Reissue.
- Click Create Refund Reissue Request. Earlier requests, if any, are listed on the same page.
- Select the record (the assessment year) for which the refund failed and click Continue.
- Choose the bank account for the refund. A validated account goes straight to verification; an unvalidated one has to be validated first.
- Click Proceed to Verification and e-verify the request.
- Note the Transaction ID shown after verification. A confirmation also goes to your registered email and mobile number.
- Track the request on the View Refund Reissue Request page.
For step 5, the portal's e-Verify FAQs list the modes: an OTP on the mobile number linked with Aadhaar, an EVC through a pre-validated and EVC-enabled bank account or demat account, net banking, and a digital signature certificate. The same FAQs list refund reissue requests among the items that can be e-verified. If the Aadhaar mobile number is out of date, use net banking or a bank EVC instead of waiting for the OTP.
A worked illustration
Take a salaried taxpayer who filed the return for AY 2026-27 (FY 2025-26) on 31 July 2026 and e-verified it with an Aadhaar OTP the same day. The return showed a refund of ₹23,600. In September 2026 the status changed to "Refund failed", and the email from CPC gave the reason as account closed: the savings account quoted in the return was shut in March 2026.
Her steps run in this order. She adds her current salary account under My Bank Account and validates it; it shows "Validation in progress" until the bank confirms the details, and then appears as validated. She switches on Nominate for Refund for that account. Then she raises the reissue request for AY 2026-27, picks the new account, verifies with an EVC from that bank account, and keeps the Transaction ID.
Had she skipped e-verification of the return itself, the timeline would be different. The e-Verify FAQs state that a return must be verified within 30 days of filing (Notification No. 5/2022, for returns filed from 1 August 2022). For a return filed on 31 July 2026, that window closes on 30 August 2026. A return verified late is treated as not filed unless a condonation request is approved, and in that case there is no refund to reissue at all.
If the reissued refund still does not arrive
Check the status of the reissue request first. If it was processed but the money has not reached the account, or the request itself shows an error you cannot clear, raise a grievance. The Submit Grievance user manual sets out the path: Grievances, then Submit Grievance, choose the department and category, give the assessment year and a description of at least 100 characters, attach any bank letter, and submit. Refund complaints on a processed return go to the CPC-ITR department under the category "REFUND"; a refund that the Assessing Officer was to issue after an order has its own "Refund not received" category under the AO department.
Keep the Grievance Acknowledgement Number. You can check progress under View Grievance Status after logging in, or through Contact Us with the acknowledgement number and the mobile number you used. For a call, the Refund Reissue help page lists the CPC numbers 1800 103 0025 and 1800 419 0025, available 08:00 to 20:00, Monday to Friday, as shown on 30 October 2026.
