Rectifying Income Tax Returns Online

1. You have to pay any additional tax (tax credit mismatch)
2. You have to get any refund from the I-T Department
3. Adjustments made lead to an increase or decrease in loss declared by the taxpayer, but no additional tax or refund is due

You will receive an intimation under Section 143(1) within 1 year from the end of the fiscal year in which the income tax is filed - that is, for assessment year 2015-16, you file your ITR in 2016-17, and will receive an intimation by the end of 2017-18. If there are no adjustments and dues in the form of tax or refunds, you are not likely to receive any intimation. In this case, the ITR-Verification form will suffice.

The following adjustments in the total income or loss are computed by the I-T Department:

1. A mathematical or clerical mistake in the ITR
2. A wrong claim made by the taxpayer in terms of:
   1. Conflict with another entry in the ITR
   2. Non-provision of proofs for income, investment or loss
   3. A deduction claimed exceeds the statutory limit

Amendment Order Under Section 154

Once you receive an intimation of errors in your ITR under Section 143(1), you may receive a rectification order from the I-T Department under Section 154 of the Income Tax Act. This order generally comes in response to a rectification request filed by the taxpayer or a discrepancy noticed by the department themselves. This includes mistake in gender, advance tax disparity, mismatch in tax credit, lack of more details on capital gains, etc. But a change in bank account number or address cannot be affected through a rectification.

While filing a rectification, if you end up having an increase or decrease in your total income, then you need to file a revised ITR and not just a rectification. Rectification of ITR cannot add or reduce any claims or income components.

Amendment orders under this section can be made only up to 4 years after the end of the financial year in which the original order was passed.

How To File A Rectification Of Income Tax Return

An online rectification can be filed only if the Income Tax Return was filed online. You need to know the CPC Communication number and Form 26AS details before you begin rectifying the Income Tax Return. To rectify your ITR online, you need to follow the below steps:

1. Sign in to the Income Tax e-Filing website. The username is generally your PAN, and you can create your own password.
2. Go to My Account > Rectification Request.
3. The PAN will be pre-entered on this screen. Select 'Return to be rectified' as 'Income Tax Return' and the correct assessment year.
4. Fill in the communication reference number, which will be available on the CPC order/intimation.
5. Click 'Validate'.
6. On the next page, choose 'Rectification Request Type'.
7. If your rectification is related to tax credit mismatch, select the option 'Taxpayer is correcting data for Tax Credit Mismatch only'. Under this, there are 3 options: TDS on Other Than Salary Details, TCS Details and IT Details.
8. For each of the options, data from the ITR will already be pre-filled. You can input up to 10 corrected entries in each section. ITR need not be uploaded again.
9. For other rectification reasons, you need to select 'Taxpayer is correcting Data in Rectification'. There are 22 reasons listed here; you can choose up to 4 of these reasons. The reasons given include:
   1. Tax payments had not matched as per the CPC order
   2. Requesting for cancellation of the adjustment of earlier year(s) demand
   3. Details of deduction under Chapter VIA wrongly considered
   4. Salary income not matched
   5. Current year losses were not set off correctly
   6. Date of filing of the original return taken as 'not within due date'
10. If neither of the above options apply to you, then you need to select 'No further Data Correction Required. Reprocess the case'. Under this, you'll see 3 options: Tax Credit Mismatch, Gender Mismatch and Tax/Interest Computation. Tick the box for which reprocessing is needed. You can view your Form 26AS details and Tax Credit Mismatch details through this page to ensure that your response is correct.
11. Submit the details and confirm the pop-up about Form 26AS.
12. Click 'OK' for the rectification to be submitted.

If your rectification is successful, you will see a note on submission and transaction ID details on the screen.

Things To Be Wary Of:

1. Ensure that you quote the correct CPC Communication number and select the correct Assessment Year.
2. Make sure that the details in Form 26AS match with the details given in the ITR.
3. If you have received notice from the CPC to respond to the tax demands/queries raised with you, check your profile on the Income Tax e-filing system and respond to the notices as soon as possible.
4. If a reply is not given within 30 days, any refund due to you will be adjusted with the outstanding demand. If your refund request is genuine, you need to invalidate the demand and request for a refund.