What does Intimation U/S 143(1) of Income Tax Act mean?

One of my friends called me in a worrying voice telling me he had received an email from Income tax department with subject “Intimation U/S 143(1) for PAN ABCxxxxx4A AY:2019-20”. As with most of us, any communication from taxmen makes us worried and it was not much different for my friend.

Are you in the same boat and have you also received similar email from intimations@cpc.gov.in with similar subject? And are you worried about what it means for you?

Well worry not! Intimation U/S 143(1) is sent by Income Tax department in response to the Tax returned filed by you. As the subject suggests “Intimation” – the communication intimates the tax payer about, any tax and interest payable or if you are eligible for refunds.

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This is done by the computer without any human intervention and checks for following two things:

1. 1. Any mathematical error or
   2. any incorrect tax claim

What you need to do is open the attached zip file. The zip file contains a PDF file which is password protected. To open this PDF following is your password.

The password is your PAN Number in lower case followed by your date of birth in DDMMYYYY format. So if your PAN Card Number is ABCDE1234A and date of birth is January 1, 1985, then your password would be abcde1234a01011985. The date of birth should be one which is mentioned on your PAN Card.

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Just scroll down and at the end of all calculations you would see two headings.

1. Net Amount Refundable
2. Net Amount Payable

In case there is ‘0’ in front of both as in the picture above, it means that your tax return filing was perfect – you neither need to pay any more tax for the year nor you would get any tax refunds.

Also Read:Tax Notices You can get and What to do about it?

In case some amount is mentioned for “Net Amount Refundable” then its good news and you would soon get that amount in your bank account. And if “Net Amount Payable” has some amount mentioned, then you need to pay that much tax to Income tax department.

In case you think there is some error in the calculation sheet, you should consult a qualified CA or good tax expert for further action.