Got an e-Campaign Message About High Value Transactions? How to Respond on the Compliance Portal

A message from the Income Tax Department saying it has "identified certain high value transactions" that do not match your return feels like a knock on the door. It is not. Since the Central Board of Direct Taxes formalised the e-Campaign on Voluntary Compliance in 2020, these nudges have been an invitation to reconcile, not an assessment or a demand, and they are answered entirely online through the Compliance Portal. This guide explains what the message means under Section 285BA of the Income-tax Act 1961, which transactions trigger it, and exactly how to respond for Assessment Year 2026-27.

The Scenario

Imagine you are a salaried professional who, during Financial Year 2025-26, bought a flat for Rs 35 lakh, put Rs 12 lakh into mutual funds, and renewed a fixed deposit of Rs 11 lakh. You filed your return by the Section 139(1) due date of 31 July 2026, declared your salary accurately, and assumed the matter was closed. In October 2026 a message arrives: the Department's e-Campaign has flagged three "High Value Transactions" against your PAN and asks you to confirm them on the Compliance Portal. Nothing in that message says you owe tax. It says the system holds information reported by third parties that it wants you to verify.

The anxiety is understandable but misplaced, because the figures in the message did not come from an investigator. They came from banks, registrars, mutual funds and companies that are legally obliged to report large transactions, under rules that have existed since 1 April 2016. Your job is to tell the Department whether each reported figure is right, and if it is right, whether it was already accounted for in your return. If both are true, you confirm and close the campaign in minutes. The number that matters is not the Rs 35 lakh or the Rs 12 lakh; it is whether your declared income supports those outflows.

Statutory Answer

The legal engine behind every High Value Transaction nudge is Section 285BA of the Income-tax Act 1961, which requires specified persons to furnish a Statement of Financial Transactions (SFT). The transactions and their monetary thresholds are prescribed in Rule 114E of the Income-tax Rules 1962, and the obligation to report lies with the institution, not with you. The reporting entity files the SFT; the Department matches it to your PAN, displays it in your Annual Information Statement, and, where it looks inconsistent with your return, surfaces it as an e-Campaign.

Rule 114E covers transactions "registered or recorded on or after 1 April 2016", aggregated per financial year. The principal thresholds are set out below.

Source: Rule 114E, sub-rule (2), Income-tax Rules 1962, as published on Indian Kanoon. A Rs 35 lakh flat crosses the Rs 30 lakh property line and a Rs 12 lakh mutual fund purchase crosses the Rs 10 lakh units line, which is why both were reported, even though neither is, by itself, income.

The Compliance Portal that hosts your response is reached from the e-Filing dashboard. Per the Income Tax Department's own user manual, you log in at incometax.gov.in, open Pending Actions, select Compliance Portal, and choose e-Campaign. The portal then shows an active count across three campaign types: Significant Transactions, Non-Filing of Return, and High Value Transactions, alongside e-Verification, e-Proceedings and DIN Authentication services. Clicking Proceed moves you into the Compliance Portal to act on the specific campaign.

Worked Resolution

Take Priya, a salaried employee with a declared total income of Rs 18 lakh for FY 2025-26 under the new regime. Her e-Campaign flags three High Value Transactions for AY 2026-27. Here is how each resolves once she reviews the entries against her Form 26AS and AIS.

The first two entries are the common case: large, genuine, and already funded by declared income. Priya marks each "Information is correct" and adds no tax, because buying a flat or a mutual fund is a deployment of money, not the earning of it. The system's only concern is whether her Rs 18 lakh income supports a Rs 35 lakh purchase; with a Rs 28 lakh loan on record, it plainly does.

The third entry costs money, because Priya forgot to report a Rs 2 lakh long-term capital gain on equity units redeemed in June 2025. Under Section 112A, equity long-term gains are exempt up to Rs 1,25,000 and taxed at 12.5% above that. Her taxable gain is Rs 75,000, giving tax of Rs 9,375 plus 4% cess of Rs 375, a total of Rs 9,750. You can model this with our capital gains calculator before you file.

Because the Section 139(5) window to revise her return for AY 2026-27 runs to 31 December 2026, Priya still has time to file a revised return and settle the Rs 9,750 along with interest under Sections 234B and 234C at 1% per month. Had she missed 31 December 2026 altogether, she could still use an updated return under Section 139(8A), which the Finance Act 2025 extended to 48 months from the end of the assessment year, though that route carries additional tax of 25% to 70% on top of the liability, depending on how late it is filed. Reconciling early is always cheaper; our income tax calculator and the old versus new regime tool help you confirm the final figure.

Response Options: What Each Choice Means

For every flagged line, the Compliance Portal offers a fixed set of responses. Choosing the right one matters, because an unanswered High Value Transaction campaign can escalate into scrutiny under Section 143(2). The five standard responses are:

• Information is correct: the figure and its PAN attribution are both right, as with Priya's Rs 35 lakh flat funded from accounted money.
• Information is not fully correct: the transaction is yours but the amount is wrong, so you enter the corrected value for the Department to weigh against the reporting entity's figure.
• Information relates to other person or year: common for a joint account or a spouse-held property, where only part of a Rs 50 lakh figure is yours, or a deposit was recorded in the wrong year.
• Information is duplicate or included in other information: used when the same Rs 11 lakh fixed deposit renewal has been reported twice.
• Information is denied: the transaction is not yours at all, which may point to PAN misuse and warrants a written record, since Section 285BA reporting errors do occur.

Each response is submitted per line and saved, and you can revise it before the campaign closes. If you are unsure whether an AIS entry and a Form 26AS entry describe the same receipt, our explainer on why AIS and Form 26AS differ since AY 2023-24 untangles the overlap first.

Deadlines, Interest and Penalties

No single deadline is printed on an e-Campaign message, but three dates govern what you can still do. For AY 2026-27, a revised return under Section 139(5) and a belated return under Section 139(4) can both be filed up to 31 December 2026. After that, only the Section 139(8A) updated return survives, running 48 months to 31 March 2030. Keeping advance tax paid through the year reduces the 234B and 234C interest attaching to any later correction.

Ignoring a correct flag is the expensive path. If the Department later finds income was under-reported, Section 270A imposes a penalty of 50% of the tax on that income, rising to 200% where it is treated as misreporting. A voluntary correction filed before any notice under Section 148 typically avoids 270A entirely and costs only the tax plus 1% monthly interest. The Compliance Portal and AIS helpline, per the Income Tax Department manual, is 1800 103 4215, Monday to Friday, 09:30 to 18:00 hrs.

FAQ

Does a High Value Transaction message mean I have to pay tax?

No. The message under Section 285BA confirms that a reporting institution filed information against your PAN; it is not an assessment. If the flagged Rs 10 lakh deposit or Rs 30 lakh property purchase was funded from income you already declared, you mark it "Information is correct" and pay nothing. Tax arises only where the campaign reveals income, such as an unreported capital gain, that was genuinely left out of your return.

What if the transaction belongs to my spouse or is a joint account?

Select "Information relates to other person or year" and apportion your share. For a jointly held property registered at Rs 50 lakh where you contributed half, you record Rs 25 lakh as yours. The reporting registrar often files the full value against the first PAN, so this response corrects the attribution without disputing that the transaction occurred.

I have already filed my return and these transactions are capital, not income. Do I still respond?

Yes, always respond, even when nothing is taxable. Confirming each line as "Information is correct" closes the campaign and signals that the Rs 12 lakh investment or Rs 35 lakh purchase was made from accounted funds. Leaving a High Value Transaction campaign unanswered is a common trigger for a Section 143(2) scrutiny notice.

The flagged amount is wrong. What do I do?

Choose "Information is not fully correct" and enter the right figure. The Department then compares your value with the institution's SFT filing under Rule 114E. Keep the bank statement or contract note that supports your number, because the reporting entity may be asked to reconcile, and documentary evidence settles the mismatch quickly.

Is a High Value Transaction campaign the same as a notice under Section 142(1) or 148?

No. An e-Campaign is a pre-assessment nudge seeking voluntary compliance and carries no statutory penalty for a reasoned response. A notice under Section 142(1) or 148 is a formal proceeding with fixed timelines and consequences. Responding properly to the e-Campaign in 2026 is often what prevents the matter from ever reaching the formal-notice stage.