Section 280 of the Income-tax Act, 2025 — Issue of Notice Where Income Has Escaped Assessment (Reassessment Notice)

In plain language

What Section 280 actually says

Section 280 of the Income-tax Act, 2025 is the reassessment notice provision. It is the direct successor to the old Section 148 of the Income-tax Act, 1961. In plain words, before the Assessing Officer (AO) can reopen and reassess a past year — technically called making an assessment, reassessment or recomputation under Section 279 — the AO must first serve you a notice under Section 280. That notice asks you to file a return of income for the relevant tax year, because the department believes some income of yours was never taxed.

Who it applies to

• Any assessee — individuals, HUFs, firms, LLPs, companies, trusts — whose income the AO believes has "escaped assessment".
• Representatives — the notice can require a return of your own income or the income of any other person for whom you are assessable (e.g. as a legal heir, agent of a non-resident, guardian or representative assessee).
• People who never filed a return, filed but under-declared income, wrongly claimed exemptions/deductions, or where fresh information (foreign assets, high-value transactions, survey/search material) surfaces.

The key precondition — "information", not suspicion

This is the biggest safeguard in the 2025 Act. No notice under Section 280 can be issued unless the AO has specific "information" suggesting income has escaped assessment. The AO cannot reopen on a mere hunch or change of opinion. "Information" is defined narrowly and includes:

• Flags from the Board's risk management strategy and data analytics;
• Audit objections by the C&AG;
• Information under an international agreement (e.g. exchange of information on foreign accounts);
• Material found in a survey under Section 253 or a search;
• Any finding or direction in an order of an appellate authority, Tribunal or Court.

How Section 280 links with Sections 279, 281 and 282

• Section 279 — gives the power to assess/reassess escaped income (old Section 147).
• Section 281 — the mandatory pre-notice procedure. Before issuing the 280 notice the AO must serve a show-cause notice, share the information relied upon, let you reply, and then pass a reasoned order (with prior approval) deciding whether it is a fit case to reopen.
• Section 280 — the actual reassessment notice issued after that order clears.
• Section 282 — the time limits within which 280/281 notices may be issued.

Time limits and the ₹50 lakh rule

Under Section 282, reopening runs on a two-tier clock. A notice cannot ordinarily go out beyond the normal 3-year window from the end of the tax year. An extended window (widely reported as up to 5 years, with the precise outer date for the 280 notice fixed by Section 282) applies only where the AO has books, documents or evidence showing the escaped income is, or is likely to be, ₹50 lakh or more, represented as an asset, expenditure or an entry in the books. Note: the ₹50 lakh test is measured against the escaped income in the information, not later add-ons.

Approval and practical implications

• Prior approval of a specified authority (Additional/Joint Commissioner or Additional/Joint Director) is required before the notice is issued.
• Once served, you must file the reassessment return within the time given (not exceeding three months from the end of the month of the notice). A return filed after that period is not treated as a valid return under Section 263.
• Respond, do not ignore. Non-response invites a best-judgment assessment and penalties. Check the digital signature and DIN, verify the information disclosed to you, and reply to the Section 281 show-cause on the merits and on limitation.