A notice under section 143(1)(a) gives you 30 days to respond on the income tax e-filing portal before your return is even processed. Log in, open Pending Actions, e-Proceedings, and either agree or disagree with reasons. If you stay silent for 30 days, the proposed adjustment is added to your income automatically.
Short on time? Jump to the step-by-step portal response below. The clock runs from the date the notice is issued, not the date you read it.
A 143(1)(a) notice is a “proposed adjustment” communication. The Centralized Processing Centre (CPC) of the Income Tax Department spots a mismatch in your filed return and proposes to correct it, but it asks you first. This is the pre-processing stage. Your refund or demand is not final yet.
It is not a tax demand. It is not a scrutiny notice. It is a chance to explain a difference before the computer locks in a number.
The law sits in section 143(1)(a) of the Income-tax Act, 1961. The Income Tax Department states that under section 143(1), total income or loss is computed “after making adjustments” for certain apparent errors, and that no such adjustment is made unless an intimation is given to the assessee in writing or in electronic mode (Income-tax Act 1961, section 143(1), incometaxindia.gov.in).
The new Income-tax Act, 2025 came into force on 1 April 2026 and re-enacts this processing and prima-facie adjustment power as section 270. Returns up to financial year 2025-26 remain governed by the 1961 Act under its savings provisions, so an intimation you receive in 2026 on an earlier-year return still cites section 143(1)(a). The procedure below is the same either way.
The notice quotes one or more statutory grounds under section 143(1)(a). The Income Tax Department confirms these adjustment categories during processing:
In plain terms: your figures do not match what the department already has. The most common trigger is a salary, interest or TDS figure in Form 26AS, the Annual Information Statement (AIS) or Form 16 that you left out, or a deduction the system could not verify.
Open the PDF attached to the notice. It shows two columns side by side: the value “as provided by you in return of income” and the value “as computed” by CPC. The difference between them is the proposed adjustment.
Each difference is called a variance. A notice can list several variances. Note the date of issue printed at the top, because your 30-day clock starts there.
Match each variance against your own records. Pull up Form 26AS and the AIS from the portal, and your Form 16 or Form 16A. Decide, line by line, whether CPC is right or whether you can explain the gap.
The Income Tax Department's e-Proceedings user manual sets out the exact path (incometax.gov.in, Respond to e-Proceedings).
Log in to the e-filing portal at incometax.gov.in. From the Dashboard, click Pending Actions, then e-Proceedings, then Self. Select the proposed adjustment (prima facie adjustment) notice.
Click View Notice, then open the Notice or Letter PDF if you want to download it. Read every variance before you respond.
Click Submit Response. You will see the details found by CPC. Click each variance to expand it. For each one, select Agree or Disagree with the proposed adjustment. Click Save after each item.
If you disagree, the portal asks you to give a reason and select the relevant explanation. Be specific. Point to the exact figure in Form 26AS, the AIS, or your Form 16 that supports your filed number.
After every variance is answered, click Back, tick the declaration checkbox, and click Submit. The portal shows a success message with a Transaction ID. A confirmation goes to your registered email. Keep the Transaction ID.
Agree: You accept the adjustment. CPC adds it to your income, recomputes the tax, and processes the return. If extra tax is due, the final 143(1) intimation will show a demand. If you had a refund, it shrinks.
Disagree: You contest the adjustment with reasons. CPC reviews your explanation. If accepted, no adjustment is made. If rejected, CPC applies the adjustment and issues the final intimation anyway.
Partly agree: You can agree to some variances and disagree with others in the same response.
Do not let the 30 days lapse. The second proviso to section 143(1)(a) is blunt: where no response is received from the taxpayer within 30 days of the issue of the intimation, the proposed adjustment is made to the returned income (Income-tax Act 1961, second proviso to section 143(1)(a)).
So silence is not neutral. Silence is treated as acceptance. The adjustment goes through, your tax is recomputed, and any resulting demand becomes payable.
These three are easy to mix up. They are not the same.
| Notice | When it comes | Your window | If you ignore it |
|---|---|---|---|
| 143(1)(a) proposed adjustment | Before processing, on a mismatch | 30 days | Adjustment made automatically |
| 139(9) defective return | When the return itself is incomplete or inconsistent | 15 days (or as specified) | Return may be treated as invalid |
| 143(1) final intimation | After processing is complete | Acceptance, or file rectification or appeal | Refund or demand stands |
A 139(9) notice means your return is defective. The Income Tax Department states you get 15 days from receiving the notice, or the time specified in it, to fix the defect, and that failure can make the return invalid, with consequences such as loss of carry-forward of losses (incometax.gov.in, Response to Defective Notice 139(9)).
A final 143(1) intimation is the closing step. It is issued after processing and shows the final refund or tax payable. The general guide at Income tax notice guide for India only name-drops 143(1) among many notices. This page is the dedicated, pre-processing proposed-adjustment response.
Dr. Shrawan Kumar Pathak, a salaried doctor in Patna, filed his return for the year and expected a Rs 18,400 refund. Ten days later he got a 143(1)(a) notice. CPC had spotted Rs 1,12,000 of interest income shown in his AIS from a fixed deposit that he had not reported.
He logged in, opened Pending Actions, e-Proceedings, and saw one variance. The bank interest was genuine, so he selected Agree. CPC recomputed his tax. His refund fell to Rs 9,100, with no penalty for responding in time. Had he ignored the notice, the same adjustment would have been made on day 31, and he would have lost the chance to check the figure first.
You have 30 days from the date the intimation is issued. The second proviso to section 143(1)(a) of the Income-tax Act 1961 says that if no response comes within 30 days, the proposed adjustment is made to your returned income.
Log in at incometax.gov.in, then go to Dashboard, Pending Actions, e-Proceedings, Self, and select the proposed adjustment notice. Click Submit Response, answer each variance with Agree or Disagree, declare, and submit. You get a Transaction ID on success.
Select Disagree for that variance and give a reason backed by a figure from Form 26AS, the AIS, or your Form 16. CPC reviews it. If your explanation is accepted, no adjustment is made. If it is rejected, CPC applies the adjustment and issues the final intimation.
No. It is a proposed adjustment before your return is processed. It only proposes a change. Any actual refund or demand appears later in the final 143(1) intimation, after processing is complete.
The adjustment is made automatically. The law treats no-response within 30 days as a green light. CPC recomputes your tax with the adjustment included, which can reduce your refund or create a demand.
A 139(9) defective return notice means the return form itself is incomplete or inconsistent, and you usually get 15 days to fix it or the return can be treated as invalid. A 143(1)(a) notice accepts your return but proposes to correct a specific mismatch.
The 143(1)(a) stage is a response, not an appeal. If you disagree and CPC still applies the adjustment in the final 143(1) intimation, you can then look at a rectification request under section 154 or the appeal route, depending on the issue.
No. Responding in time lets CPC finish processing correctly. Ignoring the notice is what risks an adjustment that cuts your refund. If your refund is still stuck after processing, see the refund guide below.
For a 143(1)(a) notice, RTI is usually not the tool. This is a portal response with a fixed 30-day clock, so respond through e-Proceedings first. RTI helps later, if your return is processed and the refund or grievance then stalls without explanation. In that case you can ask for the status and file notings. See how to force a delayed ITR refund with RTI, and use the AI RTI Drafter to draft the application. For the deeper process, read The RTI Playbook.