A defective income tax return under section 139(9) of the Income tax act, 1961, occurs when your income tax return either omits certain information or data entered are inaccurate.
In the following situations, the income tax department may issue a defective notice for your income tax return (ITR) in order to rectify the mistake from the tax return filed by you.
- Your income tax return is incomplete. This means certain information either mismatches or missing or incomplete. For instance, bank account details are not accurate or such type of account does not exist.
- You have failed to provide certain details such as tax deducted at source (TDS), tax collected at source (TCS), advance tax , self assessment tax etc.
- Tax deducted at source (TDS) credit has been claimed in your tax return but you missed to declare corresponding receipts or income under the respective head for taxation.
- Gross receipt as mentioned in your income tax return is lower than the receipt from which tax has been deducted as per form 26AS.
- Balance sheet or profit and loss account details are filled by the taxpayer even though the taxpayer is having income under the head “Profits and gains of Business or Profession”.
- You have reported tax liability as “Nil” or “0”. However, as per your return and/or form 26AS, you have income which is liable for payment of taxes.
- Tax has been deducted under section 194N and you have claimed TDS on your return but failed to ensure that the gross receipt is reported correctly by the bank.
Above list is inclusive, not exhaustive.
Income tax department can send you a defective notice under section 139(9) for any discrepancies or defects that they have identified in your filed income tax return.
Steps to respond to a defective notice for your income tax return
In case of a defective notice, it will be issued by the department to the E-mail ID provided in your ITR.
The password to open defective return notice under section 139(9) is PAN in lower case followed by date of birth in DDMMYYYY format. For example, if your PAN is AAAPM1245C and your date of birth is 01/01/1988, then the password to open defective return notice would be: aaapm1245c01011988 .
You can also access such notices from the income tax portal by logging into your account. You can find notices under the “Pending Action” tab and “E-Proceedings” section.
After receiving defective notice, as a taxpayer you should rectify the defect within a period of 15 days from the date of receiving the notice or as the time duration specified in the notice. In case you are unable to do so within the time period allowed, then extension can be requested from the local assessing office.
If you failed to respond to the defective income tax notice within the allowed time period, then your return may be considered as not valid or not filed for that assessment year. In such a case, all consequences such as interest, penalty as applicable within the income tax act, 1961, may occur.
When you access your defective notice online on your income tax login, it will ask whether you agree or disagree with the defective notice. If you agree, then prepare a correct income tax return with all the details for filing, click on agree to upload the correct tax return with the reason. If you disagree, then select the disagree option and mention the reason for it before submitting.
You can also file a revised return under section 139(5) of the income tax act, 1961, in case the time provided for filing such a return in a particular assessment year has not lapsed. If such a time period is not available, then it is better to respond to the notice.
Frequently Asked Questions on Defective notice u/s 139(9)
Within how many days should I respond to my defective return notice under section 139(9)?
You should respond to your defective notice within 15 days from the date of receiving it.
What will happen if I do not respond to the defective return notice?
If you don’t respond within the time period of 15 days or extended time, your return may be considered as invalid or will be treated as if you have not filed your return.
Can responses submitted be withdrawn on the e-filing portal?
No, after submission, you cannot withdraw or update your response.
How to know whether my return is defective?
In case of any defects in your tax return, the IT Department will send you a defective notice U/S 139(9) on your email ID. You can view such notices by logging on to the e-filing portal.
How should I respond to the defective notice?
You can respond on your own if you know what the defects are and how to rectify it. Or else, you can authorise another person such as a chartered accountant in practice or any other tax consultant to respond to your defective notice u/s 139(9).
Can the time period of 15 days be extended
Yes, you can ask for extension of time and seek an adjournment to submit a reply to the defective notice u/s 139(9).
