A Complete Guide to Section 143(1) of Income Tax Act Getting a notice from the Income Tax Department can be worrying, but the intimation received under Section 143(1) is usually just a routine step. It's basically the department's quick, computer-generated report on your tax return. This article is a complete Guide to Section 143(1) of Income Tax Act, showing how they check by comparing with what you report to and what system under tax department has detected and also about corrections made by tax department if found any isuue/error and tell you if you need to pay more tax or if you'll get a refund and what action does taxpayer need to undertake based on type of intimation. What is Section 143(1) of Income Tax? Under section 143(1) of Income Tax, the Income Tax Department does basic checks to make sure everything you entered is correct when a return is filed under Section 139 or in reply to a notice under Section 142(1), and can make a few adjustments if something incorrect. Before making these changes, the department sends you an intimation after adjusting the income; it determines whether you need to pay more tax or will get a refund.
What does section 143(1) include? After taxpayer submit income tax return for that year, income tax department work starts, it starts its assesment by checking any issue or error in that return, if error are made, adjustments by tax department are done and on basis of intimation received by taxpayer under section 143(1) highlighting total income, tax due or paid with comparison to what taxpayer reported and what it reported under system and then taxpayer respond to the intimation.
Intimation received under Section 143 (1) Meaning of Intimation: Once you file the return, the department sends you a notice after carefully checking It basically gives you a summary of your ITR assessment, showing what you reported and what the department has correctly found. It’s just a quick automated review done by the Centralised Processing Centre (CPC) .In its checking, it may find things like calculation errors, wrong income entries, mistakes in tax calculation, or missed claiming a refund, claiming a deduction without eligibility, and the department has time up to 9 months from the end of the financial year to issue the intimation
Details mentioned in the Intimation The intimation is an assessment summary of all the following information listed below. The details will be compared with what you reported and what the system has found
Personal and filing details: Your name, address, and other basic details, ITR acknowledgement number and filing date, reference sequence number
Income under different sources: It shows the income from various sources, like salary, business, house property, capital gains, and other sources.
Tax Benefits You Claimed: It gives details of the deductions you claimed under sections like 80C, 80D, or any exemptions or rebates that you used to reduce your taxable income.
Total Tax You Owe: This shows the total tax you owe based on your income and deductions.
Taxes You Have Already Paid: It checks how much tax one has already paid through TDS, advance tax, or self-assessment tax.
Refund or demand: It clearly tells whether you will get a refund or need to pay more tax.
Suggested read on TDS and TCS under GST
When one receives the intimation You may receive intimation in the following cases,
When you are getting a refund: If you paid more tax than what is required, the intimation will show the refund amount. Refunds are given only when the amount is more than ₹100.
When you need to pay more tax: If you paid less tax than what is required, intimation will tell you how much extra you have to pay.
When everything is correct: If your return matches the department’s calculations, you get a simple confirmation
Adjustments Made Under Section 143(1) The system checks all the details you filled in and compares them with the information the tax department already has, and based on this, it makes corrections/adjustments to figure out the final tax or income. Some common adjustments that the income department does under Section 143(1) include:
Fixing calculation mistakes: Any basic math errors in your return are corrected.
Removing incorrect claims: If something you claimed doesn’t match the other details in your return, it gets removed.
Not allowing losses if the return was filed late: If you try to carry forward a loss from a year where you filed the return after the due date, it won’t be allowed.
Expense not shown in return: If your audit report shows an expense but you didn’t include it in your return, the system will not allow that expense.
Note: before making changes, the department sends a message with adjustments, 30 days' time is given to reply to those adjustments. If you don’t reply, the changes they suggested will be treated as final.
Also, read how to show F&O losses in ITR?
Responding to Intimation Under Section 143(1) The list below shows what taxpayers need to do when receiving intimation under section 143(1) under various scenarios, but it's very important to first carefully look at personal details, assessment year and check the figures provided by you and computed under section 143(1) and then take any action
Scenario 1: in case mistakes are found in the intimation,Agree with the mistake found: you can rectify those mistakes by submitting a revised return through the e-filing portal
Disagree with the mistake found: you can go online and file a rectification request under Section 154(1) to tell them about the correction needed.
Scenario 2: In case of no mistake found or refund dueIn this scenario taxpayer does not need to do anything; everything is matched and correct
Scenario 3: If there is a tax demandAgree with tax demand: If you agree you owe the tax, you must pay it. You should make the payment using the OTLAS challan by selecting ' Tax on regular assessment (400)' in the 'Type of payment' section.
Disagree with the tax demand: file a rectification request under Section 154 (1) to tell them about the correction needed.
Note: It is important to respond to the Income Tax e-filing portal with answer to agree or not agree with the tax demand
Scenario 4: If there is a refund dueIn this scenario, you don't have to do anything; it will be credited to your bank account
How to check intimation under section 143(1) Below is by step-by-step procedure to check imitation under section 143(1)
Go to the official Income Tax website and log in
Look for the 'e-file' menu, then select 'Income Tax Returns', and click on 'View Filed Returns'.
Find the return you want the order for and click the option 'Download Intimation Order'
Download Intimation or from there
Note: In case you cannot access the intimation order within a year of you filing your return, it simply means the Income Tax Department found no change to your tax return. There's no extra tax you owe, and no refund is due to you. In this situation, the copy of the ITR you filed is automatically considered your official Intimation Order.
Conclusion Overall, Section 143(1) is the Income Tax Department's automatic way to quickly check your tax return. The tax department compares the income and tax numbers you reported against the department’s records to find any simple mistakes. Once you get it, the most important thing is to carefully check the details and do what’s needed: either paying a demand, filing a correction or simply waiting for your refund.
Also read Highlights of the Income Tax Bill 2025
FAQs How is the income tax return is reviewed through section 143(1)? Income Tax Returns are processed at the Centralised Processing Centre, which scrutinises it in full detail.
What is the time limit for sending the Intimation under Section 143(1) by the Income Tax Department? They shall send the Intimation within a period of nine months after the end of the financial year in which you filed your ITR.
Does my Intimation order under Section 143(1) is protected? Yes, the intimation order you receive is password-protected.The password is PAN in lowercase letters, followed immediately by your date of birth (DDMMYYYY) with no spaces in between.
List out the types of Intimations you can get under Section 143(1) Intimation with no demand or no refund Intimation determining a demand(you own a tax, an error is found)
Intimation determining a refund (money back to you)
What should I do if the tax department doesn't correctly fix my rectification request made under section 143(1)? If you are not satisfied with how the tax department handled your rectification, you can directly contact your Assessing Officer. If still not satisfied with the assessing officer, you can file a complaint to the tax ombudsman.
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