Income Tax Notice Response

The notices you are most likely to see

• Section 143(1) — intimation after processing, showing a refund, a demand or agreement with your return
• Section 139(9) — the return is defective and must be corrected within the time given, or it is treated as never filed
• Section 142(1) — the officer calls for a return, accounts or information before assessment
• Section 143(2) — the case is selected for scrutiny, and the assessment proper begins
• Section 148 — income is alleged to have escaped assessment, and the year is reopened
• Section 245 — a refund due to you is proposed to be set off against an earlier demand
• Section 156 — a formal demand notice following an assessment order

The faceless system changes how you respond

Assessment and appeal are now largely faceless. There is no local officer to meet, and submissions are filed through the e-proceedings tab on the portal. Everything is written, and the record is what you upload.

That makes the quality of the written submission decisive. There is no opportunity to explain something informally, and a document not uploaded is a document the assessing unit has not seen.

What actually triggers most notices

• Income appearing in the annual information statement but not in the return
• Interest from deposits or savings not declared
• Share or mutual fund transactions reported by the broker but not disclosed
• A property transaction reported by the sub-registrar
• Large cash deposits or high-value credit card spends
• A mismatch between the return and Form 26AS
• Foreign assets or income not disclosed in the relevant schedule

How we handle it

1. 1 Reading the notice properly We identify the section, the assessment year and the deadline, since those determine what the notice actually requires.
2. 2 Reconstructing the position Your return is reconciled against the department’s own data to establish whether the query has substance.
3. 3 Advising you plainly Where the department is right, we say so. Paying with interest is usually cheaper than contesting a position that will not hold.
4. 4 Drafting the submission A written response is prepared with the documentary support, since the faceless system decides on the record.
5. 5 Filing on the portal The response is uploaded through e-proceedings within the deadline and the acknowledgement preserved.
6. 6 Follow-through Further queries are answered, and where an adverse order follows we advise on appeal within the limitation period.

Frequently asked questions