Condonation of Delay Under Section 119(2)(b): The Last Route to a Missed Refund

There is a gap in the return-filing machinery that catches people out badly. If you owe the department money and have missed every deadline, an updated return lets you come forward, at a price. If the department owes you money and you have missed every deadline, the updated return route is explicitly closed: it can never produce a refund. That asymmetry is deliberate, and it leaves a specific category of taxpayer stranded, the one who was due a refund, did not file in time, and has now watched the belated and revised windows shut. Section 119(2)(b) is the route back, and it is the only one.

What the Provision Actually Does

Section 119(2)(b) empowers the Central Board of Direct Taxes to authorise income tax authorities to admit an application or claim for a refund, deduction, exemption, or other relief after the statutory time limit has expired, where refusing to do so would cause genuine hardship. It is not a right you exercise. It is a discretion someone else exercises on your application, and the standard is that you were prevented by a reasonable cause from filing in time and that genuine hardship would follow from refusing.

The current framework comes from CBDT Circular No. 11/2024, issued on 1 October 2024, which supersedes the earlier instructions in this area. Two features of it matter most in practice: a hard outer time limit, and a hierarchy of who decides based on how much money is involved.

Five Years, and Who Decides

No application for condonation of a refund or loss claim is entertained beyond five years from the end of the assessment year to which it relates. This is a firm outer boundary rather than a guideline, and it is shorter than the six-year limit that applied under the previous framework, so anyone working from older guidance may believe they have more time than they do. Within that period, the authority competent to decide depends on the amount at stake.

The circular also sets an expectation on turnaround: applications should, as far as possible, be disposed of within six months from the end of the month in which they are received. That is a target rather than a guarantee, but it gives a reasonable basis for following up rather than waiting indefinitely.

When This Is the Right Route, and When It Is Not

The verification case deserves a specific mention because it is the most common one in practice. A return submitted but never verified within 30 days is treated as invalid, which means in law you never filed, even though you did the work. Condonation is the mechanism that revives it, after which the return can be verified and processed. Our post on e-verifying your ITR covers how that window works and why it lapses so quietly. For the difference between the other three routes, see our comparison of revised, belated, and updated returns.

How to Apply

1. Confirm you are within five years of the end of the relevant assessment year. Outside that, no application can be entertained regardless of merit.
2. Log in to the e-filing portal and go to Services, then Condonation Request, and select the ground that matches your situation, which will typically be a delay in filing the return claiming a refund or loss, or a delay in verifying a return.
3. Select the assessment year and state the reason for the delay specifically. Serious illness, hospitalisation, bereavement, a prolonged period abroad, or documented technical failure carry weight; oversight and general busyness carry very little.
4. Attach evidence. This is where most applications are decided: medical records, a death certificate, travel documentation, or portal error records turn an assertion into a case.
5. Submit and note the acknowledgement, then track the status on the portal rather than assuming silence means progress.
6. If condonation is granted, file or verify the return promptly, since the permission is not open-ended.
7. Follow up after roughly six months if nothing has moved, referencing the circular's disposal expectation.

What Condonation Does Not Do

A point that causes real disappointment: condonation of delay is not the same as allowing your claim. All it does is remove the time bar so the claim can be examined. Once admitted, the return or claim is processed on its merits in the ordinary way, and if the refund does not stand up on the figures, the fact that the delay was condoned changes nothing. Approaching the application as though a grant means the money is coming sets up an expectation the provision was never designed to meet.

It also does not remove interest or fees that would otherwise apply, and it does not restore entitlements that were lost for reasons other than delay. Refund interest under Section 244A, in particular, is not payable for periods of delay attributable to the taxpayer, so a refund recovered years later through condonation will not usually carry interest for the years it went unclaimed. The realistic way to think about it is as a recovery mechanism for money that would otherwise be permanently lost, not as an alternative timetable for filing.