Received notice/ Intimation u/s 143(1) – Know what does it mean and how to reply?

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Whenever we receive any notice from Income Tax department we start worrying even if we hadn’t done anything wrong. In this post we’ll talk about one such notice which mostly everyone receives from Income Tax department. This notice is an intimation u/s 143(1) of the Income Tax Act which basically everyone receives over their registered e-mail id from income tax department.

Password of the intimation:

Let’s first understand how you need to open the PDF you receive in the mail as it is password protected. So the password to open such intimation is your PAN in small case and your birthdate. For eg: Your PAN is AAAPA4325N and birth date is 11/01/1985 so the password would be aaapa4325n11011985 and that is how each intimation would have different passwords linked to the PAN of the assessee.

Why do you receive this intimation?

First of all this intimation is generated by CPC i.e. Central processing system of Income tax department where your returns are checked by computers and they check various aspects of your income tax return i.e.

• Arithmetic accuracy: Whether total income has been added properly etc.
• Internal data connection: Whether income disallowed from one head of income has been properly shown in another head of income.
• Claim of deduction: It also checks whether you have uploaded required form for claiming deduction, if any.
• TDS and Tax paid: They even check whether tax credit claimed by assessee is matching with tax credit available in Form 26AS.

This are the major adjustment/ check done in intimation u/s 143(1) other than this also various things are checked like set off/ carry forward of loss etc.

Thus it’s basically a check done by machines and there is no human intervention in between and this intimation can be issued in any situation:

• Where there is no change in income
• Where there is a demand
• Where there is a refund.

Time limit for issuance of intimation:

As per proviso to sub section 1 intimation needs to be issued within 1 year from the end of Financial year in which return of income has been filed.

If no intimation is sent to assessee within 1 year then the acknowledgement received by assessee i.e. ITR V will be deemed to be intimation issued u/s 143(1) and no further adjustment can be made u/s 143(1) after that.

Sample Intimation:

The main part of intimation is total income and on last page of table outstanding demand/ amount refundable which is represented below.

How to reply to intimation u/s 143(1):

After receiving intimation u/s 143(1) many people are confused what they need to do with such intimation.

First of all you need to go through the entire intimation and check the figures mentioned in “figures provided by Taxpayer in return of income” are correct, and if figures mentioned in “As computed under section 143(1)” is matching with figures provided by us.

If everything is matching and perfect then you don’t need to worry and you don’t have to reply anything.

However if there is any difference in both the figures and because of which there is a demand or your refund has been reduced or your loss claim has been reduced then you can reply to such changes either by filing revised return u/s 139(5) if the time limit permits or file a rectification return u/s 154. Time limit for filing a rectification is 4 years from the end of assessment year in which you receive the intimation. You can file revise return online on e-filing website itself if you are filing ITR 1 or 4, however for filing rectification request you need to generate xml using the software provided by income tax department and upload the same online with correct data.

If you think that your problem won’t be solved online as you need to explain and represent your case then you can even file an appeal before CIT(A), but it needs to be done within 30 days of the date of notice u/s 143(1) or you can file an appeal after that also but you need to submit a condonation also along with it.

As soon as an intimation is released and if there is a demand the same will also be available under “My worklist” and if you file a rectification/ revised return or appeal against such demand you need to disagree with the demand here and mention the relevant reason otherwise this demand will be set off against your other refund.

Note: Many people worry if the amount of refund has been increased due to interest and they enquire whether they need to take any action on it as well and the answer is No. Also an important thing to mention that interest on refund is calculated till the date of intimation even if you receive refund after that.

If you need assistance you can ask a question to our expert and get the answer within an hour or post a comment about your views on the post.

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