Defective Return Notice U/s. 139(9) With Error Code No. 180 or 181 –Some Precautionary Steps For Resolution

INTRODUCTION : Recently, it is seen that notices U/s. 139(9) of the Income Tax Act have been send by the Department to the large no. of assesses mentioning therein the error code no. 180. The description of this error is mentioned as :

“(a) The Gross receipts is not mentioned in the Profit & Loss A/c, OR b) The profit shown is less than 6% of the gross receipts as prescribed u/s 44AD but has not mentioned the maintenance of the books of accounts and audit report u/s 44AB in Part A-General and the total income exceeds the maximum amount not chargeable to income tax”

In many cases any of these errors are not existing at all, despite that the assesses have received these notices. In many cases it is seen that mails have been send by the Income Tax Department to the respective assesses mentioning therein that the notice has been issued inadvertently and to ignore the same.

In this article an attempt has been made to mention the precautionary steps that may be taken in those cases where the notice has not been withdrawn as mentioned above.

STEPS TO DEAL WITH PROBLEM :

FIRSTLY CHECK THAT WHETHER THE DEFECT AS MENTIONED IN THE NOTICE ACTUALLY EXISTS : Firstly, it is to be checked that whether the defect mentioned in the notice actually exist i.e.,

(a) The gross receipts are not mentioned in the return (in both type of cases where the net profit is computed as per the provisions of section 44AD or otherwise) ; or

(b) (i) The provisions of section 44AD are applicable; and (ii) the profit shown is less than the prescribed 6% or 8% (as the case may be) as mentioned in Section 44AD ; (iii) and the total income is more than the maximum amount not chargeable to tax ; (iv) and the liabilities U/s. 44AA and 44AB for maintenance of books of account and audit has not been mentioned in the return (iv) and the consequential information e.g., Balance Sheet, Profit and Loss Account, Audit Details etc. have not been filled in the return.

If any of the above error exists, then the defect will have to be removed by following the prescribed procedure. However, in those cases where any of the above defect do not exists, the precautionary steps mentioned in the succeeding paras may be taken.

GRIEVANCE SUBMISSION THROUGH E NIVARAN FACILITY: The grievance can be submitted to the Department through e nivaran facility available at the e filing website i.e., www.incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in. The screen shot of the respective window is as under :

As an example, the grievance submitted by the author for one of his client and the resolution received from the Department are mentioned as under :

E MAIL AND PHONE TO THE DEPARTMENT : The grievance can be submitted to the Department through mail to efilinghelpdesk@incometax.gov.in and actual status of notice can be traced by contacting on telephone nos. 1800-103-0025 / 080-46605200/1800-103-4455. As an example the screen shot of the reply to the mail written by author for one of his client is as under :

EXPRESSION OF DISAGREEMENT TO THE CORRECTNESS OF THE NOTICE  : The disagreement to the correctness of the notice can also be recorded on the e filing website by going in to section “e file” and then “response to notice U/s. 139(9)”. The screenshot of the relevant window is as under :

As an example the disagreement mentioned by the author for one of his client is also appearing in the above screen shot.

OTHER POINTS FOR CONSIDERATION :

If the defect actually exists, the return form in XML format will have to be again uploaded from the same window after removal of the defect.

It is also seen that the similar type of notices have also been issued mentioning error code no. 181. The same are in respect of presumptive income U/s. 44ADA regarding the professions.

The above steps may also be taken as a precautionary measure in those cases also where the Department has suo moto send the mails to ignore the notice.

The defect is to be removed or disagreement is to be expressed within 15 days of receipt of the notice.

CONCLUSION : The defective return notices in presumptive income cases is a persisting problem from last many years. The problems occurs every year in one or another form. The Department should seriously take steps for permanent resolution of the same. At the same time the returns should also be prepared and submitted carefully by the assesses, tax consultants etc. to avoid any error which can be prevented by them through caution. The detailed article of the author on this subject has been previously published on the TAX GURU which may also be referred. The link to view the same is : https://taxguru.in/income-tax/defective-return-notice-asking-to-file-bs-and-pl-in-presumptive-income-cases.html

(Republished with Amendments)