How to Authenticate and Check an Income Tax Notice Online?

You authenticate an income tax notice through the free "Authenticate Notice/Order issued by ITD" service on the e-Filing portal (incometax.gov.in), a pre-login tool that needs no password. On the home page, scroll down to Quick Links and click "Authenticate Notice/Order issued by ITD," then choose one of two methods. The fastest is the Document Identification Number (DIN) plus any accessible mobile number, which works for every assessment year; the alternative is your PAN with the document type, assessment year, date of issue and mobile number, for notices issued for AY 2011-12 onward. Enter the 6-digit OTP, the One-Time Password sent to that mobile number. If the notice is genuine, the portal shows its DIN and date of issue; if not, it shows "No record found."

Follow the flow in order. Method 1 is the DIN route; Method 2 is the PAN route.

The document type dropdown covers both notices and orders: an assessment order, penalty order, intimation or letter. The same service authenticates an order you have received, so you are not stuck if the document is an order rather than a notice.

OTP rules:

• The OTP is valid for 15 minutes only.
• You get 3 attempts to enter it correctly.
• An on-screen countdown shows the time left; click Resend OTP for a fresh code.

If authentication fails:

• OTP not received: click Resend and confirm the mobile number is entered correctly; any accessible number works.
• "No record found" with correct details: the notice may be fake or wrongly addressed.
• Incorrect-input error: re-check the DIN, PAN and date of issue for typos.
• Page will not load: retry, or clear your browser cache.

A Document Identification Number (DIN) is a unique 20-character computer-generated code (commonly called a 20-digit DIN) that must appear on every genuine income-tax communication issued on or after 1 October 2019. Under CBDT Circular No. 4/2026 dated 31 March 2026, any notice, order, summons or letter issued without a valid DIN is invalid and non-est in law, deemed never to have been issued, so you need not act on it. In plain terms, a DIN-less communication cannot be enforced against you. You will find the DIN quoted at the top of the notice or in its reference line. Entering this DIN with any mobile number accessible to you, which need not be your registered number, is the fastest way to authenticate a notice for any assessment year, and the same DIN is echoed on the authentication result screen; matching the two confirms the notice is genuine.

The DIN was introduced under the Central Board of Direct Taxes' Centralised Communication Scheme to make every communication traceable. The same Authenticate DIN feature is also available on the AIS home page once you log in, a second entry point to the same check. Because the DIN method reaches every year the portal holds, it is also how you confirm an older notice and judge how far back the department can go.

To check whether you have an income-tax notice, log in to the e-Filing portal (incometax.gov.in) with your PAN/Aadhaar and password, then open Pending Actions → e-Proceedings (labelled "Worklist" in the newer interface) to see every open notice with its section, assessment year and response deadline. Demand-related notices do not appear here. They sit under Pending Actions → Response to Outstanding Demand, a separate tab that lists each demand with its DIN, amount and assessment year. If you are not registered, use the pre-login "Comply to Notice" service to view and respond to a notice using its DIN. Always confirm the notice is genuine using the authentication steps above before you act on it.

Three paths cover every case:

• Regular notices, post-login: Pending Actions → e-Proceedings, also labelled Worklist.
• Demand notices, post-login: Pending Actions → Response to Outstanding Demand.
• Pre-login: the Comply to Notice service, using the notice's DIN.

e-Proceedings is also where you access and complete the e-verification step when you submit a response, and where you track the status of each open notice. Every notice is now served electronically and mirrored on the portal even when it is also sent by email or registered post, under Section 282 of the Income-tax Act, 1961 read with Rule 127 of the Income-tax Rules, 1962. Once you know a notice exists and have confirmed it is genuine, the next step is how to respond to an income tax notice.

To download your notice or order as a PDF, log in to the e-Filing portal, go to Pending Actions → e-Proceedings, and open the relevant notice; use the "Download" or PDF/attachment icon next to the entry to save the official copy. Assessment and penalty orders download the same way. For a completed proceeding, open the closed item in e-Proceedings, or the assessment record, and download the order PDF, which you can keep as an official record. The downloaded file is the department's signed communication and carries the DIN, section, assessment year and response deadline; verify these against the authentication result. Keep this PDF and its acknowledgement, because you will need the DIN and issue date to respond and to prove the document's contents later.

The steps in order:

1. Log in to the e-Filing portal.
2. Open Pending Actions → e-Proceedings.
3. Select the relevant notice or order.
4. Download the PDF using the Download or attachment icon.
5. Save the file, which carries the DIN, section, assessment year and response deadline.

Intimations under Section 143(1) are also emailed by the Centralised Processing Centre (CPC) as a password-protected PDF, which raises the next question: what is the password?

The password to open an income-tax notice or intimation PDF is your PAN in lowercase followed by your date of birth in DDMMYYYY format, with no space. For example, PAN AAAAA1234A and date of birth 1 January 1990 gives the password aaaaa1234a01011990. This convention applies to Section 143(1) intimations and other CPC-issued PDFs emailed to you. For a company or firm, use the PAN in lowercase plus the date of incorporation or formation in the same DDMMYYYY format. If the file still will not open, re-download it from e-Proceedings, which stores the notice without a password.

Notice / intimation PDF password = your PAN in lowercase + date of birth in DDMMYYYY (no space). Example: aaaaa1234a01011990.

This password intent centres on the Section 143(1) intimation, the automatic summary the department issues after processing your return.

"Section: NA" on an income-tax notice or on the authentication result screen means "Not Applicable": it is a system placeholder, not a real section of the Income-tax Act. It appears when the communication is a general letter, a system-generated intimation, or a document type for which no specific section is recorded in that field, so "NA" is normal and does not make the notice fake or invalid. To find the true legal basis, read the body of the notice, which states the actual section, for example 139(9), 143(1), 143(2), 148 or 245, and the response deadline. Because "NA" is not a section, no limitation period attaches to the label itself; the time limit follows the real section quoted in the body, which decides how far back the department can go. Authenticate the notice by its DIN regardless: a valid DIN, not the section field, is what proves the document is genuine.

A genuine income-tax notice always carries a valid DIN, appears in the e-Proceedings section of your portal login, and is sent from an official "@incometax.gov.in" or "@cpc.gov.in" email address. Authenticate any notice using the DIN or PAN method before acting; a fake one returns "No record found." Treat a notice that arrives only by WhatsApp, from an unknown SMS number, or as a link demanding immediate payment or your login credentials as suspected phishing. The department never asks for your password or PIN, and never routes payment through non-portal links. Verify on incometax.gov.in first.

Genuine signals:

• Carries a valid DIN.
• Visible in e-Proceedings after login.
• Sent from @incometax.gov.in or @cpc.gov.in.
• Authenticates on the portal.

Red flags:

• No DIN on the document.
• Arrives only through an unofficial channel.
• Asks for your password, PIN or OTP.
• Carries a payment link outside the portal.

Once you have confirmed a notice is genuine, do not sit on it: read what happens if you ignore the notice before the deadline passes.

If a notice is not visible on the portal, first confirm you are logged in under the correct PAN and check both Pending Actions → e-Proceedings and Pending Actions → Response to Outstanding Demand, as different notice types appear in different tabs. A missing notice is usually one that has not yet reflected, not one that does not exist; work through the checks in order.

1. Confirm the PAN and both tabs. Make sure you are logged in under the correct PAN, then look in both Pending Actions → e-Proceedings and Pending Actions → Response to Outstanding Demand.
2. Authenticate the DIN. Run the "Authenticate Notice/Order issued by ITD" service; if it returns "No record found," the communication may be fake or wrongly addressed.
3. Allow for a reflection delay. A genuine notice can take a short time to reflect after issue, so also check your registered email and the pre-login "Comply to Notice" service.
4. Escalate if needed. If your notice still isn't visible after that, contact the e-Filing helpdesk with the DIN quoted.