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Jul 29, 2025
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Income tax refund in 4 hours: Taxpayers report ‘fastest-ever ITR processing’
It seems that long waits and weeks of uncertainty after filing income tax returns (ITRs) have become the thing of the past, at least for many individual taxpayers. This year, many taxpayers are receiving their income tax refunds within mere hours of e-filing their income tax returns.
This is a major shift from past years, where refunds used to take more than 90 days. In the current assessment year (AY 2025-26), some taxpayers have received their tax refunds in their bank accounts within 4 hours of filing their return. One might recall the time some 12-13 years ago when this refund used to take more than 90 days to come. Now, thanks to fast digital processes, this time is getting reduced to hours.
Refund came in a few hours! Taxpayers’ experience
One media professional, Arun Prakash from Noida, received his tax refund within 4 hours of submitting ITR on the e-filing portal of the Income Tax Department. He says, “I filed my return using ITR Form 1 at around 5.03 pm, and by 9.02 pm on the same day, the refund came in my bank account.” He shared with us timestamped proof of both the ITR submission and the refund credit to back his claim. Below are screenshots of the confirmation messages showing the exact filing and refund times.
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