4.7 Method of Filing Tax Returns

The self-assessment norm (4.7's frame): the taxpayer declares income, computes tax and files the return within the Act's due date — the return binds unless the department audits, amends or issues assessment within the limitation framework. Late filing attracts fees and interest; e-filing (the IRD's online system) is now the ordinary channel. 4.7.1 Assessment of Tax — the department's determination: on the return (self-assessment accepted), or by audit and reassessment where under-reporting appears — within limitation windows, after notice and hearing; an assessment notice must disclose the COMPLETE particulars (only citing a section is not lawful notice); assessment by guesswork or extrapolation without basis is beyond the officer's authority (the settled judicial line). 4.7.2 Payment of Tax — instalments through the year, TDS credits, and the balance with the return; the e-payment interface; interest runs on late payment from the due date at the Act's rate (as the annual law adjusts). 4.7.3 Recovery of Tax — tax due is a charge: it attaches to the taxpayer's assets with the priority the Act gives. The machinery: demand notices, instalment arrangements, then coercive steps — seizure and sale of assets, third-party collection from debtors — within procedural safeguards. 4.7.4 Tax Deduction at Source (TDS) — "the system's circulatory pump": payers (employers, banks, contractees) withhold at prescribed rates, deposit within prescribed dates and…