What is an Income Tax Assessment Order?
The income tax officer issues an income tax assessment order after verifying the income tax computation. In the case of an assessment, the officer not only evaluates the accuracy of the calculation, but also requests that the taxpayer present the various papers used in the calculation, such as Form 16 for salary, Books of Accounts for business, sale deeds for capital gains, and so on.
During the processing, the tax department looks for any discrepancies between the income stated and the tax paid by you and the data they have. Following completion of processing, the department will generally give you a notification under section 143 (1) advising you whether your return as submitted has been approved or there is some discrepancy. If there is a disparity between the department’s and your tax computations, the notice under section 143 (1) will show additional tax payable. If a refund is required, it will be specified in the notice.
If you want to know what stage your tax return is at after you file it, there are two simple ways to do so:
Using an acknowledgement number in the absence of login credentials
The option to check ITR Status can be found on the homepage of the income tax department’s new e-filing website, under the ‘Quick Links’ section.
When you select ITR Status, you will be taken to a new page where you must enter your ITR acknowledgement number and the captcha code.
The status will be displayed on your screen when you fill out your information and submit it.
Using login information
Log on to the e-filing system, and the status of your income tax return will be displayed on the dashboard.
Another approach to check is to select ‘View Filed Returns’ from the ‘e-file’ menu. After selecting the ‘View Filed Returns’ option, select the assessment year for which you want to see the status of ITR. The assessment year is the year preceding the fiscal year. The assessment year for the fiscal year 2020-21 is 2021-22.
If an ITR for a specific year is processed, the status will be ‘ITR Processed’. If, on the other hand, the ITR is not processed, the message ‘Successfully e-verified’ will appear.
