What should you do if you receive an Income Tax Notice?

Tuesday 25th June 2019
Author: Shreya Uppal

Highlights

All of us very well know that Income tax returns, notices, assessments, and scrutiny can be so hard-headed that it will finally piss off a person by becoming an obstacle in his daily routine and leading to destroy of peace of mind. It can be stressful because if a Chartered Accountant (CA) is not appointed for that particular purpose then handling it on your own can be a hard nut to crack.
Here are some of the General Guidelines which one should look at:

All of us very well know that Income tax returns, notices, assessments, and scrutiny can be so hard-headed that it will finally piss off a person by becoming an obstacle in his daily routine and leading to destroy of peace of mind. It can be stressful because if a Chartered Accountant (CA) is not appointed for that particular purpose then handling it on your own can be a hard nut to crack.
Here are some of the General Guidelines which one should look at:

1. Neither Panic nor Ignore
The first and foremost step is to cool down yourself. One must not stress out by seeing the notice. Also, ignoring the same can be dangerous. You should find out a way in between to handle this carefully.

2. Check PAN
The department issue notices based on your PAN and not by name, so make sure notice is issued in your PAN and is not meant for someone else who shares similar names or DOB as yours.

3. Identify the reason behind issuing a notice
The reasons could be a simple mismatch in TDS or inconsistency in your returns or some serious concerns like income concealment or survey or scrutiny of accounts. One must understand properly to take proper action thereon.

4. Check Issuer details
Check the validity of the notice, time of issuance, the IT section under which it has been issued, and also look at the mention of officer-in-charge, his or her designation, signature, address with details of ward & circle no. etc. Verify these details in view to avoid being cheated.

5. Reply within the time
Always reply on time even if you are not able to collect the required documents. You can even ask for some time to prepare the same. It would establish that you are honest and cooperating with the laws.

6. Get professional help
If the gravity of the notice is high then it would be prudent to have a CA represent you. Otherwise, you can do it on your own.

Some of the Specific Guidelines relating to important issues have been mentioned thereon:

Section under Income Tax Act	Reason for receiving notice	Guidelines
Section 139(9)	Defective Return filed by an Assessee	Respond within 15 days from the date of issue of notice. Under e-file, select e-file in response to notice u/s 139(9) to proceed.
2. Section 142(1)	You may have either filed your return but the assessing officer wants additional information or you have not filed the return and assessing officer wants you to do it.	Send all the relevant documents within the timeline given by the Assessing Officer.
3. Section 143(1)	Demand notice for additional tax	1. Respond within 30 days from the date of issue of notice. 2. Find the notice under e-proceeding option on the portal.
4. Section 143(2)	Notifying the assessee that his filed return has been selected for the scrutiny process	Respond to the questions of the officer and send all the required documents within the timeline given by the assessing officer.
5. Section 156	Demand notice for due tax, fine, interest, penalty to be paid by an assessee	1. Pay dues within 30 days. 2. Go to e-file option on the portal and then click on the option stating the respond to pay the outstanding dues.
6. Section 131 (1A)	For Concealment of income	1. Send all the relevant documents within the timeline given by the Assessing Officer. 2. If all documents are not available then seek more time