Faulty I-T notices trigger confusion, dept says ignore

NEW DELHI/AHMEDABAD: The Income Tax Department on Saturday urged taxpayers across the country to ignore emails that wrongly flagged "significant transactions" under its Advance Tax e Campaign for Assessment Year (AY) 2026 27. The advisory came after several individuals, including thousands in Gujarat, reported receiving notices that did not match their financial profiles.

In a post on X, the department acknowledged the error and said the issue was being addressed with the service provider handling the communication system. Officials said the emails-intended as reminders for taxpayers to review information on the Compliance Portal-contained incorrect or duplicated data for a number of recipients.

"It has been reported that certain taxpayers have received emails containing inaccurate details regarding 'significant transactions' undertaken by them as part of the ongoing Advance Tax e Campaign for AY 2026-27," the department said, apologising for the inconvenience and advising taxpayers to "kindly ignore" the communication until the issue is resolved.

An official said that the messages were meant to be sent after mapping PAN with the tax that was to be paid as advance tax, but an error resulted in "mass messaging". The fourth instalment of advance tax is to be paid by Sunday.

In Gujarat, many taxpayers received the faulty notices just a day before the last instalment deadline for advance tax, triggering confusion. The emails included mismatched or improbable financial details-such as GST turnover values for those who do not have GST registrations, and identical transaction values appearing for different people.

CA Karim Lakhani said several taxpayers without any advance tax liability were listed under the 'Significant Transactions' category. "Taxpayers who do not have a GST number received notices showing GST turnover. In many cases, the transaction values were the same for different persons. The government has now clarified the error and asked people to ignore such emails," he said.

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