Income Tax Alert: ITR-B Filing Now Live for Block Assessment After Search Notices

The income tax department conducts investigations at an individual’s home, business, or office and identifies income or assets. The department may send you a notice under Section 158BC of the Income Tax Act; the process is called block assessment. In this assessment, the income tax department reassesses your income over previous years (usually the past six years), in addition to part of the current assessment year in which the search started.

Taxpayers who have received a notice under Section 158BC (block assessment after search) can now file Form ITR-B online via the e-Proceedings tab on the Income Tax portal.

ITR-B (Income Tax Return-B) is a newly introduced form by the Income Tax Department. The form is designed for a special type of tax filing return, used to declare undisclosed income for a block period (usually 6 years) in search or seizure cases.

The Income Tax Department has now made it easier for the taxpayers engaged in block assessment cases to pay tax on their previous years’ undisclosed income online on the e-filing portal. This feature is helpful for taxpayers who are under investigation by the department and have received a notice for reassessment.

These taxpayers can now pay the required tax for such block assessment cases online, directly through the Income Tax e-filing portal. If you are logged in, you can pay by going to login > e-file > e-Pay Tax > New Payment > Self-Assessment Tax for Block Assessment.

If you are not logged in, you can still pay by going to Quick Links > e-Pay Tax > Self-Assessment Tax for Block Assessment.

This feature is useful in cases of search and seizure or reassessment under sections like 153A or 153C and ensures the tax paid is correctly classified for block assessment cases.