Read your income tax return intimation

Filing feels like the finish line, yet the department still processes your return afterwards. Weeks later, an intimation arrives by email, and many taxpayers ignore it or panic without reading it.

This notice simply compares your figures with the department's computation. Matching numbers mean processing went through cleanly. A difference points to a refund adjustment, an arithmetic issue, or a mismatch worth examining. Open it, compare both columns carefully, and respond whenever the notice asks for action.

Treat the intimation as the true closing step of your income tax return, because a return only settles once processing confirms your numbers.