Dealing with IT notice under section 143(1)(a)

By now, all income taxpayers would have received an intimation from Income Tax (IT) Department under Section 143(1) giving details of either the refund payable by the IT department to the taxpayer if the tax paid/deducted exceeds the tax liability of the taxpayer, or asking the taxpayer to pay the balance amount of tax payable by the assessee if the tax deposited by the assessee is less than the amount computed by the IT department.

If the tax paid by the assessee is more than that computed by the IT department, the Form 143(1) provides the details of the excess amount deposited by the assessee and also gives the amount of interest due on the excess amount paid by the taxpayer. The excess amount and the interest thereon is directly credited to the bank account of the assessee by the IT department.

On the other hand, if the tax paid by the assessee is less than that computed by the IT department, then the taxpayer has to pay the balance amount of tax along with the amount of interest thereon as computed by the IT department within the time specified in the demand notice sent by the IT department.

Taxpayers who have received the demand notice should immediately respond to the notice and do the needful to avoid penalty and prosecution.