When will CPC start to process Income Tax Returns for FY 19-20 / AY 20-21 and give Refund? Here is the answer

Soumya Laha | Last updated: 03 December 2020

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Good news for taxpayers! The Central Processing Centre (CPC) began processing Income Tax Returns for FY 19-20 / AY 20-21 from 23rd November 2020. While processing times are usually 30-60 days for refunds, this year has seen delays due to COVID-19 and a technical upgrade. Returns filed in June are expected to be processed first, with electronically verified and nil returns being faster. ITRs 1 & 4 will also be processed more quickly than others like ITR-3.

Good news! CPC has started to process Income Tax Returns from 23rd November 2020. Hope some taxpayers have already got Intimation from Income Tax Department u/s 143(1) at their registered email id. So, if you filed and verified your ITR successfully, your ITR will be processed soon.

Generally, CPC takes 30-60 days to process ITR and issue a refund (if any). But the situation is different this year due to COVID-19. Also, a technical upgrade (CPC 2.0) for faster processing of ITRs could be the reason behind the delay in processing ITRs.

Income Tax Return Processing and Refunds FY 19-20

According to observation, it can be said that :

ITR filed in June 2020 will be processed first and then ITR filed in subsequent months will be processed.
Electronically verified ITR will be processed in lesser time and physically verified (via post) ITR will take more time to process.
Nil returns will be processed in lesser time.
ITR 1 & 4 will be processed in lesser time and other ITRs (especially ITR-3) will take more time to process.

Also, the format of the Intimation letter u/s 143(1) has been changed a little bit (The intimation letter is starting with the Hindi version and followed by the English version).