Tax notices and assessments
What each notice actually is, how long you have to reply, and the procedural grounds worth checking before arguing the facts — from the intimation almost every filer receives to reassessment and search.
10 articles · written and reviewed by CA K Sanjay Bhargav, Chartered Accountant
Cornerstone guide
Tax Notice on Deductions & Exemptions Claimed: What to Do
Salaried filers are receiving advisories and notices over deductions and allowances claimed in earlier returns. What the Department is actually doing, how to tell a real claim from an indefensible one, and the difference between a 50% and a 200% penalty.
TDS Deducted but Not Deposited by Employer: You Keep the Credit
Form 16 says tax was deducted. Form 26AS says nothing arrived. The intimation denies the credit and raises a demand, or quietly eats a later refund. Section 205 has barred exactly that for decades, the Delhi High Court has now applied it three times to former Kingfisher staff, and the 2025 Act carries the bar forward as Section 401.
Notice Under Section 142(1): What the Officer Can Ask For
The inquiry notice that precedes assessment. What the officer is entitled to call for, the limits on that power, the special-audit direction, and why ignoring it is the worst available option.
Income Tax Search and Seizure: Block Assessment Rules
For searches conducted on or after 1 September 2024, assessment is under the reintroduced block assessment scheme rather than Section 153A. What changed, how a survey differs from a search, and what the safeguards are.
Section 143(2) Scrutiny Notice: Limitation and Defences
Your return has been selected for scrutiny. Before the merits, one question decides many of these cases: was the 143(2) notice issued within limitation — because the Supreme Court has held its absence is fatal, not curable.
HRA Claims Under Scrutiny: What Evidence Actually Holds
House rent allowance is among the most examined salary exemptions. The computation, the two thresholds that create a paper trail, and what separates a claim that survives from one that does not.
Refund Adjusted Against Outstanding Demand: Meaning, and the 30 Days
A refund that never arrived, absorbed by a demand from a year you had forgotten. What Section 245 requires before that can happen, and why the underlying demand is so often wrong.
Got a 143(1) Intimation? What It Means, and the 30 Days
Almost every filer receives one, and most misread it as a notice. What the two columns actually compare, the adjustments CPC is permitted to make, and the difference between the 30-day window and the four-year one.
Section 148 Reassessment Notice: Time Limits and Defences
Reassessment reopens a year you thought was closed. Before arguing the merits, three things decide many of these cases: whether the notice is within limitation, whether the monetary gate was crossed, and whether sanction came from the right authority.
Got a Notice on a Political Donation Deduction?
A 100% deduction with no monetary ceiling, verifiable against the donee's own filing. Why 80GGC became the centre of the refund crackdown, and what separates a valid claim from one that will not survive.
Other topics
- Business tax, audit and filing
- GST — registration, returns and credit
- Foreign income, RSUs and ESOPs
- NRI money, property and repatriation
- Foreign-owned companies in India
- Bank finance and company compliance
- Internal controls, IT audit and data protection
- Service exports, GCCs and professionals
- Manufacturing and industry
- Real estate, JDAs and development
- The Income-tax Act 2025 transition
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