What each income tax notice means

Most letters from the income tax department are not accusations. The single most common one, an intimation under Section 143(1), is simply the department telling you what its computers made of the return you filed, and it frequently agrees with you entirely. Knowing which section you are looking at tells you whether you have a problem or a receipt.

Everything below arrives in the same place. Log in at the e-filing portal, open Pending Actions, then e-Proceedings, and every open item appears with its deadline and a response option. Email and post are notifications about that list, not substitutes for it.

The six you are most likely to see

Section 143(1), intimation after processing. Generated automatically once your return is processed. It compares what you filed against what the department already holds and produces one of three outcomes: no difference, a refund, or a demand. It is not a scrutiny of your affairs. If a 143(1) intimation has disallowed Section 89 relief on salary arrears, the Form 10E relief checker works out what went wrong and the fix.

Section 139(9), defective return. Your return was accepted but is incomplete or internally inconsistent, for example filed on the wrong form or missing a schedule the form requires. You get fifteen days to correct it. Curing the defect in time preserves your original filing date.

Section 142(1), inquiry before assessment. A request for information, documents or accounts, or a direction to file a return you have not filed. It is a preliminary step, and it can be issued whether or not you have already filed.

Section 143(2), scrutiny. The one that means an officer has decided to examine the return properly rather than let the automated processing stand. It is comparatively rare and always follows a filed return.

Section 148, income escaping assessment. Issued where the assessing officer has reason to believe income was not assessed. It reopens an earlier year, within the time limits the Act sets, and is the most serious item on this list.

Section 245, adjustment of refund against demand. The department proposes to set a refund it owes you against a demand it says you still owe from an earlier year. You are given an opportunity to agree or disagree first.

The two that punish silence hardest

A Section 139(9) notice and a Section 245 notice both convert inaction into a decision.

If a defective return is not cured within the window, the return is treated as invalid. That is not a small administrative matter: it means the return counts as never filed, so the late filing fee applies from the original due date and any carry forward of losses is lost. Our guide on the late filing fee and the belated return covers what that costs.

Under Section 245, not responding is read as agreement. The refund is adjusted against the old demand and you are left arguing about a figure after the money has already moved. If the earlier demand is wrong, and old demands frequently are wrong because of TDS credit that was never matched, the time to say so is inside the response window.

How to respond without making it worse

1. Read the section number first. It sits at the top of the notice and determines everything about what is being asked and how urgent it is.
2. Check the document identification number. Genuine communications carry one, and it can be verified on the e-filing portal. Anything without one deserves suspicion before it deserves a reply.
3. Work out what triggered it. Compare the return you filed against your Form 26AS and annual information statement. Most 143(1) demands come from a TDS credit or an income entry that did not match.
4. Respond on the portal, not by email. Use Pending Actions, then e-Proceedings. Attach documents in the format the notice asks for.
5. Keep the acknowledgement. The acknowledgement number is your proof that you replied inside the window.
6. Answer only what was asked. A 142(1) inquiry about one transaction is not an invitation to file a narrative about your whole year.

If the notice concerns bank or UPI activity rather than a figure in your return, our guide on tax notices for digital payments explains what the department actually looks at.

What a notice does not mean

• Any letter from the department means scrutiny. Scrutiny is Section 143(2), and it is uncommon. A 143(1) intimation is routine and is issued for essentially every processed return.
• A demand in a 143(1) intimation must be paid. It must be responded to. If it arose from a TDS credit that was not matched, the correct action is to file a rectification or disagree with the demand, not to pay it.
• You can reply by email to whoever sent it. The response has to go through e-Proceedings on the portal to count.
• Ignoring a Section 245 notice keeps your refund safe. It does the opposite. Silence is treated as consent to the adjustment.
• A defective return notice can be dealt with whenever you get to it. The window is fifteen days. Missing it invalidates the return entirely.