Deepak Shenoy flags fake I-T assessment orders — Here's how to check if your notice is real, and what to do next

Deepak Shenoy, founder and CEO of Capitalmind AMC, has alerted about fake income tax (I-T) assessment orders via email. In a post for his followers on the social media platform X, Shenoy attached a screenshot of such a fake notice.

“Another fraud: random addresses sending income tax assessment orders. Be careful and be aware of this fraud,” he warned.

Notably, the fake notice asked the user to upload documents to an unofficial link and did not attach the password-protected notice document in the email. The fraud email in question was also sent from a non-I-T department-affiliated address. See below:

What is an income tax notice, and who receives it?

An Income Tax Notice is a formal communication from the Income Tax Department (ITD) sent to a taxpayer for various reasons.

Taxpayers who receive an income tax notice are not always at fault, since getting this notice can also signal something wrong with your filing. It can also signal unreported income, mismatches in data (like Form 26AS vs. ITR), or requests for clarification/documents. Income tax notices need to be addressed promptly to avoid penalties.

How to verify if your tax notice is real or fake?

Tax season is here, and receiving an I-T notice after filing your returns can be stressful for many taxpayers. However, keeping a cool head is important to protect yourself from fraudsters looking to take advantage of the confusion and panic.

Checklist to verify if your I-T notice is real or fake:

The I-T department follows protocols and guidelines when they send a tax notice, which you can use as identifying marks to verify purported tax emails by yourself.

• The first thing to check is the unique Document Identification Number (DIN) in your tax notice. This number can be tracked and is comparable to a fingerprint for an I-T notice.
• DIN is a computer-generated, unique number to be duly quoted on every communication (letter/ notice/order/any other correspondence) issued by any Income Tax Authority to any taxpayer.
• According to the official I-T website, any notice, order or letter received without a DIN would be treated as invalid and deemed never to have been issued. “You do not need to take any action or respond to such communication,” it added.

• You can also authenticate any I-T department-issued order on the e-Filing portal. Simply, click on ‘Authenticate Notice’ or the Order Issued by ITD link available on the official website here — https://www.incometax.gov.in/iec/foportal/
• You do not need to log in to authenticate any notice, letter or any communication issued by ITD.

Stepwise guide to authenticate your I-T notice

• Visit the income tax e-filing portal: https://www.incometax.gov.in/iec/foportal/
• Scroll down to the Quick Links section on the left side of the page and click ‘Authenticate notice/order issued by ITD2’.
• Enter your DIN and mobile number to authenticate. You can also authenticate using your PAN, document type, assessment year, issue date.

• Once you fill in the details, an OTP will be sent to your mobile number, which you can use to receive a success message confirming if the income tax notice is real.
• If the notice does not exist, after the OTP, a message saying ‘No record found’ will be displayed.