Income Tax Notice by Email: How They Reach You

Yes. An income tax notice in India can arrive by email, by registered or speed post, and through the "e-Proceedings" and "Notices" tabs of the income tax e-filing portal. Service on your email address registered with the department is valid service under Section 282 of the Income-tax Act, 1961, so a notice you only saw in your inbox is still a notice you are expected to answer. The portal is the record of truth, and the email and the post are only the ways of reaching you.

Email, post, portal: the three ways a notice reaches you

Most people who ask whether income tax notices come on mail are really asking two different things: whether the department sends email at all, and whether a notice sent that way counts. It does send email, and it does count. The same notice usually travels by more than one channel at once.

Two rules follow from the table. First, never judge the reality of a notice by the channel it came through; judge it on the portal. Second, an official notice will never ask for a bank password, an OTP or a payment into a private account.

Why service by email is treated as valid

Section 282 of the Income-tax Act, 1961 deals with the service of notices, and it has been amended over the years so that service may be made by email or other electronic means on the address furnished to the department. CBDT has issued schemes to deliver notices electronically, and the faceless assessment scheme of 2019 routes assessment notices through the portal and the registered email rather than through a face-to-face hearing.

Because the registered email and the registered mobile number are the department's official ways of reaching you, failing to keep them current is a common and expensive mistake. If your old email is still on the portal, notices will be sent there and treated as served whether or not you still read that inbox. Update the contact details on the e-filing portal, and check the portal itself rather than waiting to be telephoned.

How to check whether a notice is genuine

Every notice generated by the department now carries a Document Identification Number (DIN). Log in to the e-filing portal, open the e-Proceedings tab for the relevant assessment year, and match the notice against the entry there. If it appears on the portal with a DIN, it is genuine. If it does not, treat the message you received as suspect.

Genuine notices never ask for your net-banking password, never ask you to click a link to pay into a personal account, and never demand payment over WhatsApp. A payment demanded by a notice is, in any case, made through the tax payment channel and reflected against your PAN. If a fake notice has been used to cheat you, the correct step is to report it as a cyber crime, and our guide on how to file a cyber crime complaint online sets out the process.

What to do first when a notice arrives

Do not ignore a notice, and do not reply in a panic. Work through these steps in order.

1. Read the section quoted at the top and the time given to respond.
2. Log in to the e-filing portal and open the notice under e-Proceedings for that assessment year.
3. Download the full notice and the annexures, and read the demand or the query carefully.
4. Gather the returns, the computation, the challans and the supporting documents that answer it.
5. Submit your response through the portal, not by an ordinary email to some address you were given.
6. Save the acknowledgement generated by the portal, and note the next hearing date if any.

If the notice raises a serious demand or alleges concealment, take advice before filing a reply, because a careless answer becomes part of the record.

The common income tax notices you may receive

• A Section 143(1) intimation, which is the automated processing of your return and may adjust it.
• A Section 139(9) notice treating the return as defective.
• A Section 142(1) notice calling for information or accounts.
• A Section 143(2) notice selecting the return for scrutiny.
• A Section 148 notice proposing to reopen an earlier assessment.
• A Section 156 notice of demand once a sum is determined payable.
• A penalty notice, whether under Section 270A for under-reporting or Section 271.

The section quoted tells you what kind of notice it is and how serious it is. A mismatch intimation is often answered by explanation alone, whereas a reopening notice needs a considered reply, and sometimes a challenge to the reopening itself.

Deadlines, and what happens if you miss one

The time to respond is stated on the notice itself and on the portal, and it is usually a fixed number of days. Missing it has consequences that depend on the kind of notice: an unanswered scrutiny query can lead to a best-judgment assessment under Section 144, which is then followed by a demand notice and possibly penalty. An unanswered defective-return notice results in the return not being treated as filed.

If you cannot reply in time, file for an adjournment in writing through the portal before the date passes, and give a reason. Adjournments are usually granted once, not twice, so treat the first one as your only warning.

If the notice came by post while you were away

Service by registered post to your last known address is complete whether or not the envelope was opened. If you were out of town and the notice sat unread, you are still taken to have been served, and the deadline still runs from the date on the notice. The practical answer is the portal: it will show the notice and the due date, so an absent month does not become an absent year. An advocate or a chartered accountant can help you seek condonation of the delay where the law allows it.

Where the notice comes from in West Bengal

In Kolkata and the districts, notices for older cases and for matters outside the faceless scheme are issued by the Assessing Officer of the ward or circle that has jurisdiction over you. The departmental offices sit in the income tax buildings of the city, of which Aayakar Bhavan in Kolkata is the best known, and that is where a physical notice is issued and where a paper reply would once have been filed. Every notice quotes your PAN, the assessment year and the section under which it is issued, and an email notice comes from a departmental address rather than from a personal one.

Where the case falls under the faceless assessment scheme, the notice is instead issued by a Faceless Assessment Unit and reaches you only through the portal and the registered email, without any face-to-face hearing. Do not assume that a notice which arrives without a signature, or which you did not expect, is a forgery; most such notices are genuine, and the way to tell is the portal entry and the DIN. Keep the address, email and mobile number on record current at the office as well as on the portal, because a notice sent to a stale address is still treated as good service, and the department will not accept that you never saw it as an answer.

When to bring in a lawyer or a chartered accountant

A simple mismatch or a rectification request can be handled by a chartered accountant. A scrutiny, a reopening, a demand you dispute or any notice that alleges suppression should be handled with legal advice as well, because at some point the matter may have to be argued before the appellate authority or the High Court. In Kolkata, the assessment and appellate work is centred on the departmental offices, and appeals go on to the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal and then, on substantial questions of law, to the Calcutta High Court. If a notice has frightened you, the calm first step is to establish which section it is and what it actually requires.

To have a notice read and a reply planned, see our legal services or book a free consultation.