Got an income tax notice? What it means and how to reply

An income tax notice in your inbox feels alarming, but most are routine. Many simply confirm your return was processed. Others ask you to fix a form or explain a figure. Only a few mean a deeper look at your income. What matters is that you check it is genuine, read it carefully, and reply on time.

Two laws, two sets of numbers. India’s new Income-tax Act, 2025 took over on 1 April 2026, with new section numbers. But income earned before then is still handled under the 1961 Act, including notices issued now. So a notice about your 2025-26 income will quote old sections, while one about tax year 2026-27 onwards will quote new ones.

The common types of notice

The section numbers to look for, old Act first, then new:

• Intimation after processing: section 143(1), now section 270(1).
• Defective return: section 139(9), now section 263(7).
• Scrutiny notice: section 143(2), now section 270(8).
• Income escaping assessment: sections 148A and 148, now sections 281 and 280.

Intimation after processing. Once your ITR is processed, you get an intimation showing tax payable, a refund, or no change. If no tax is due and no change is made, the law treats the acknowledgement itself as the intimation. Before the department adjusts anything, such as an arithmetical error or an “incorrect claim apparent” from the return, it must tell you and give you 30 days to respond. Under the new Act, no intimation can be sent more than nine months after the end of the financial year in which you filed.

Defective return. If the return is incomplete or inconsistent, you get 15 days to correct it, or more on request. Miss it, and the return can be treated as invalid.

Mismatch. The most common trigger is a gap between your return and what your employer, bank or broker reported. Check your AIS and Form 26AS before replying.

Scrutiny. An officer may ask you to produce evidence to support your return. Under the new Act, this notice must be served within three months from the end of the financial year in which you filed.

Income escaping assessment. If the department has information suggesting income was not taxed, it must first send a show-cause notice with that information and hear you. Under the new Act, the main time limit is four years and three months from the end of the tax year, and up to six years and three months only where the escaped income is likely to be 50 lakh rupees or more.

Check that it is genuine

Fake tax notices and “refund” messages are a common phishing trick. A real notice carries a Document Identification Number. Check it on incometax.gov.in using the “Authenticate notice/order issued by ITD” service. Never click payment links in a message; pay only through the portal.

How to reply

Log in, open Pending Actions and then e-Proceedings, and respond to each point. You can attach up to 10 files, each up to 5 MB. Once submitted, a response cannot be changed, so check it first.

An illustration. Say you forgot to report 18,000 rupees of fixed deposit interest, and you pay tax at 30% under your slab. Processing flags the gap and proposes adding it. If you agree, the extra tax is 5,400 rupees, plus 4% cess, so 5,616 rupees, plus any interest. If the bank’s figure is wrong, disagree, attach the interest certificate, and ask the bank to correct its TDS filing.

Did you know? The department’s own FAQ says a communication without a DIN “would be treated as invalid”, and you do not need to respond to it. Every genuine communication issued on or after 1 October 2019 should carry one.

The takeaway. A notice is a question with a deadline. Confirm the DIN, read which year and section it is under, compare with your AIS, and reply on the portal before the due date. Get professional help for scrutiny or reassessment.

More to read: which ITR form to file, how to file your return, your income tax refund, loan recovery agent rules, and registering a will.