e-Proceedings: how to view and respond to income tax notices electronically end-to-end

The Income Tax Department retired the manual, over-the-counter response to notices years ago. Today almost every communication — a defective-return intimation under Section 139(9), a proposed adjustment under Section 143(1)(a), or a plain "Seek for Clarification" letter — lands inside e-Proceedings on the e-Filing portal, and you are expected to answer there, electronically, within a fixed window. This guide walks the whole journey end-to-end, from spotting the notice under Pending Actions to lodging a response you can no longer edit once submitted.

The Scenario

Imagine you filed your return for Assessment Year 2026-27 on 18 July 2026, declaring a gross salary of Rs 14,00,000 under the new regime. Six weeks later, an email from the Centralised Processing Centre (CPC) tells you an intimation under Section 143(1)(a) has been issued: the system has flagged Rs 40,000 of savings-bank and deposit interest reported in your Annual Information Statement that never appeared in your return. You have 30 days to agree, disagree, or partially agree. Ignore it, and the adjustment is made automatically and a demand is raised.

That is the exact situation e-Proceedings is built for. It is the e-Filing portal's single end-to-end platform to view and respond to notices, intimations and letters — covering defective notices under Section 139(9), prima facie adjustments under Section 143(1)(a), suo-moto rectification under Section 154, notices issued by Income Tax Authorities, and Seek for Clarification communications, per the Income Tax Department's own e-Proceedings FAQ. The panic most taxpayers feel is misplaced: a 143(1)(a) communication is a proposed adjustment, not a final demand, and the entire point of the 30-day window is to let you contest it before anything is finalised.

Before you respond to anything, reconcile the numbers. Pull your Annual Information Statement and Form 26AS and check whether the department is right. In our example the Rs 40,000 interest genuinely was omitted, so the honest, cheaper move is to agree — but you would only know that after the reconciliation, not before.

Statutory Answer

The legal spine of an electronic response sits across three sections of the Income-tax Act 1961, each with its own trigger and its own clock. The table below sets out what each notice means and how long you have, drawn from the statute as hosted on indiacode.nic.in and the department's response FAQ.

Section 143(1)(a) is explicit that no adjustment shall be made unless the taxpayer has been given an intimation and a 30-day opportunity to respond; where no response is received within 30 days, the adjustment is carried out. This is why the deadline matters more than the demand: the demand is contestable, the deadline is not. Section 139(9) works differently — if a defective return is not cured within the 15-day period allowed (or any extension granted), the return can be treated as invalid, which is the same as not having filed at all, exposing you to interest under Section 234A and the belated-filing consequences.

Two operational facts from the department's e-Proceedings FAQ shape how you actually reply. First, a submitted response cannot be edited or withdrawn — there is no "recall" button, so accuracy on the first attempt is everything. Second, an authorised representative (typically a chartered accountant added under the portal's "Authorise" section) can respond on your behalf, which matters when the notice runs to technical adjustments you cannot address alone.

Worked Resolution

Return to the salaried taxpayer with the Rs 40,000 interest omission. Under the FY 2025-26 new-regime slabs, the standard deduction is Rs 75,000, so the return as filed showed a total income of Rs 13,25,000 (Rs 14,00,000 minus Rs 75,000). The proposed 143(1)(a) adjustment lifts that to Rs 13,65,000. Because income exceeds Rs 12,00,000, the Section 87A rebate — Rs 60,000 in the new regime for FY 2025-26 — does not apply, so the extra income is taxed at the margin.

Here is the recomputation, slab by slab, using the seven-band new-regime structure:

The additional liability is Rs 88,140 minus Rs 81,900, or Rs 6,240, before any interest under Sections 234B and 234C. You now have two clean paths inside e-Proceedings, reached after login under Pending Actions > e-Proceedings > View Notices > Submit Response:

1. Agree. Select "Agree" for the proposed addition, pay the Rs 6,240 as self-assessment tax through the e-Pay Tax service, and file a revised return under Section 139(5) reflecting the interest. The demand closes once the revised return is processed.
2. Disagree. Select "Disagree", state the ground (for instance, the interest was already offered under another head or is exempt), and attach proof. The portal lets you upload up to 10 files totalling 50 MB in a single response, so bank certificates and interest statements go in together.

If you need more time — say the bank has not yet issued an interest certificate — use Seek Adjournment inside e-Proceedings to request an extension rather than letting the 30-day clock lapse. Model the tax impact of the corrected figure first with the income tax calculator, confirm the new regime is still the cheaper option using the old vs new regime tool, and cross-check any TDS mismatch that triggered the notice with the TDS calculator. Whichever path you pick, remember the response is final on submission: there is no editing it afterwards.

Once the department accepts your response, the intimation is closed and, if a refund was due, it moves to processing; you can track it under the refund status on the same portal. If you disagreed and the officer still confirms the adjustment, the resulting demand under Section 156 opens a fresh set of options — pay, or contest through rectification under Section 154 or an appeal — but that is a separate proceeding from the 143(1)(a) response itself.

FAQ

How do I find a notice issued to me on the portal?

Log in to the e-Filing portal and open Pending Actions > e-Proceedings. Every open notice, intimation and letter that requires a reply is listed there with its section, date of issue and response deadline. Notices under Section 143(1)(a) also arrive by email and SMS to the contact details registered for your PAN, but the portal is the authoritative record.

What is the difference between a 143(1)(a) intimation and a 143(2) scrutiny notice?

A Section 143(1)(a) communication is an automated, prima facie adjustment issued by CPC with a 30-day response window — it flags arithmetic errors and mismatches only. A Section 143(2) notice opens a full scrutiny assessment by an assessing officer and is a far wider enquiry. In AY 2026-27 the vast majority of taxpayers who receive anything at all receive the 143(1)(a) type, not scrutiny.

Can I edit my response after submitting it?

No. The Income Tax Department's e-Proceedings FAQ is explicit that a submitted response cannot be edited or withdrawn. Reconcile your ITR against your AIS and Form 26AS before you click submit, because there is no correction afterwards — your only further recourse would be a fresh proceeding such as rectification under Section 154.

What happens if I miss the 30-day deadline under Section 143(1)(a)?

If no response is filed within 30 days of the intimation, the proposed adjustment is made and the return is processed with the added income, generating a demand. Section 143(1)(a) permits the department to proceed once the 30-day opportunity has lapsed, so a missed deadline effectively concedes the adjustment.

Can my chartered accountant respond on my behalf?

Yes. An authorised representative can respond through e-Proceedings once you add them under the portal's authorisation feature. This is common for defective-return notices under Section 139(9), where curing the defect requires re-filing corrected schedules that most individuals cannot draft unaided.

How large can my supporting documents be?

A single e-Proceedings response accepts up to 10 files with a combined size of 50 MB. If your evidence is larger — several years of bank statements, for example — compress or consolidate the PDFs so the entire package fits within that 50 MB ceiling in one submission.

Is a 143(1)(a) intimation the same as a tax demand?

No. A Section 143(1)(a) intimation proposes an adjustment and gives you 30 days to respond; a demand under Section 156 is raised only after the adjustment is confirmed. Treat the intimation as an invitation to reconcile, not a bill — in our worked example the Rs 6,240 became payable only because the taxpayer agreed the interest was genuinely omitted.