Section 148 of the Income Tax Act, 1961 gives a right to the Assessing officer to issue notice to taxpayers if they believe that the assessee has not completely disclosed the income or provided inaccurate information.
It is a notice for Income escapement assessment. It can only be issued within 3 years of the relevant assessment year. However, in cases where the Assessing officer thinks that Income evasion is more than 50 lakhs notice can be issued within 10 years from the end of the relevant assessment year.
Under section 148A, the Assessing officer should give a chance to the taxpayer to provide a valid explanation before issuing a notice.
The taxpayer must respond by at least 7 days but not more than 30 days from the date of issue of notice to provide a valid explanation
So, after considering the explanation the assessing officer shall decide whether to issue a notice under section 148 or not.
If the explanation given is unsatisfactory, the Assessing officer shall issue an Assessment notice under section 147 of the Income Tax Act, against which the taxpayer needs to file their Income tax return for that relevant assessment year
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