Intimation Under Section 143(1): How to Read It and What to Do Next

After you file and e-verify your return, the Centralised Processing Centre (CPC) checks it automatically. It confirms the arithmetic and compares your figures with Form 26AS, your AIS, Form 16 and the rules. The result comes to your email as an intimation under section 143(1), a password-protected PDF.

It is not a scrutiny notice and nobody is accusing you of anything. It is the processing summary of your return. Most taxpayers get one every year. The password is usually your PAN in lowercase followed by your date of birth in DDMMYYYY format.

The intimation has to be issued within nine months from the end of the financial year in which you filed the return. People often call it the "ITR intimation" or an "income tax notice under 143(1)". It is the same document.

The core of the intimation is a two-column table: "As provided by taxpayer" next to "As computed under section 143(1)". Go down it line by line. Every difference is an adjustment, and the reason is usually one of these:

• TDS or advance tax not matched: a payment in your return doesn't appear in Form 26AS, often because of a wrong challan year or a deductor who hasn't filed their TDS return.
• Income in Form 26AS/16 not shown: interest or other income reported by a bank or employer but missing from your return.
• A deduction disallowed: a claim that is visibly wrong from the return itself, or not allowed because the return was filed late.
• Arithmetical errors in your computation.
• Interest added for late filing or short advance tax.

Before any adjustment except arithmetic, the CPC should have sent a proposed adjustment notice under section 143(1)(a), giving you 30 days to respond. If you didn't reply, the adjustment was made.

1. Work out exactly which line is wrong and gather the proof: TDS certificates, the challan, Form 16 or bank certificates.
2. If the cause is someone else's error, such as a deductor quoting the wrong PAN or not filing their TDS return, ask them to correct it first. The CPC can only match what appears in 26AS.
3. File a rectification request (section 154) on the e-filing portal under Services → Rectification. Choose the right type, usually "Reprocess the return" or "Tax credit mismatch correction", and submit.
4. If the issue is with your own return (you missed income or claimed wrongly), file a revised return if the time limit hasn't passed.

For a demand you dispute, also respond under Pending Actions → Response to Outstanding Demand, so the demand isn't adjusted against a future refund. See how that works in our refund status guide.

Pay it through e-Pay Tax on the portal. Choose the payment type for tax on regular assessment and quote the year. Then respond to the outstanding demand as "agreed and paid". Interest keeps running on an unpaid demand, and unpaid demands are adjusted against later refunds.

Not sure whether the adjustment is right? TaxQue's income tax notice resolution team reviews the intimation against your return and files the rectification for you. For other notice types, see our guide for salaried employees.