One commonly observed oversight on the part of the Taxpayers in complying with the requirement of filing a return in response to the notice issued under section 148 is that – no return is filed!

Many Taxpayers prefer the easy way out – by just filing a letter stating that the Return which was already filed for the relevant year may be treated as the return filed in response to the notice. While there is judicial backing that filing of a letter on the aforesaid lines should be deemed as sufficient compliance, a conservative approach would clearly be to file a return proper.

Non-filing of a return can potentially leave a Taxpayer exposed to significant costs in the form of interest and penal levies and Taxpayers would be well-advised to adopt a safe-rather-than-sorry approach.

There could also arise a situation where the Taxpayer plans to challenge the notice by making counter-claims / raising claims for deductions which might have been omitted to be made at the time of original filing, and thereby arguing that his income has already suffered higher tax than that which is sought to be levied by re-opening the assessment. The Taxpayer would be in a better footing to assert such a claim by filing a Return. Absent a Return filing, the counter-claim would be vulnerable to being dismissed as not being validly made.