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A notice under section 142(1) may require a taxpayer to file a return, produce accounts or documents, or furnish written and verified information. It is an information-gathering notice used for inquiry before assessment. Receipt of the notice does not by itself establish that income has been concealed.

What the Assessing Officer may ask for

• a return of income where the taxpayer has not filed one within the applicable time;
• accounts and documents relevant to the assessment; and
• written information, including a statement of assets and liabilities where lawfully required.

The notice should be read with its annexure or questionnaire. The taxpayer should answer the exact issue raised and avoid submitting unrelated personal or business information.

Authenticate the notice

1. Use the pre-login Authenticate Notice/Order issued by ITD service on the e-Filing portal.
2. Authenticate using the document particulars or DIN and the registered mobile number.
3. Confirm that the assessment year, PAN, date and issuing authority match the notice received.
4. Download the notice from the portal instead of relying only on an email copy.

Departmental communications issued on or after 1 October 2019 generally carry a Document Identification Number. CBDT has allowed limited exceptional situations for manual communication subject to prescribed approval and later regularisation. Therefore, a missing DIN should be investigated through official channels rather than assumed valid or invalid without verification.

Response process

1. Open Pending Actions > e-Proceedings after signing in.
2. Create an issue-wise checklist from the notice and annexure.
3. Reconcile the requested figures with the ITR, books, bank statements, Form 26AS and AIS/TIS.
4. Prepare a short covering response followed by indexed supporting documents.
5. Explain unavailable records honestly and request reasonable additional time before the deadline where necessary.
6. Submit within the portal and preserve the acknowledgement and final uploaded set.

Typical information requests

Consequences of non-compliance

Failure to comply may lead to a best-judgment assessment under section 144, monetary penalty under the applicable provision and other consequences depending on the facts. A partial or unsupported response may also cause the Assessing Officer to draw an adverse inference.

When professional review may be appropriate

• the notice covers several years or complex books of account;
• the source of funds is disputed or records are incomplete;
• foreign assets, trusts, crypto assets or cross-border transactions are involved;
• the response could affect penalty or prosecution exposure; or
• the notice appears inconsistent with the return or applicable jurisdiction.

Income-tax Act, 2025 mapping

Section 142 of the 1961 Act corresponds broadly to section 268 of the Income-tax Act, 2025. For proceedings relating to earlier assessment years, the repeal-and-savings and transition provisions must be checked; the new section number should not be applied merely because the notice is received after 1 April 2026.

Common mistakes

• Replying to an unauthenticated email.
• Uploading a large document dump without issue-wise explanations.
• Ignoring one item in a multi-part questionnaire.
• Providing figures that do not reconcile with the filed return.
• Waiting until the final day to request additional time.