Client Tax Management for CAs: Tracking Many PANs Through Filing Season

Filing a client's return is the midpoint of the job, not the end. Between July and December each year, every return you file for AY 2026-27 still has to be e-verified, processed by CPC (the Centralised Processing Centre in Bengaluru), and either closed with a refund, closed with nothing due, or sent back with a demand or a defect. Most missed deadlines in a practice happen in this stretch, after the client has stopped thinking about tax.

This guide lists what to check for each client PAN, where each item sits on the Income Tax portal, how long you have to act, and how to keep a tracker that doesn't go stale.

What to Check for Every Client PAN

E-verification within 30 days

A return isn't treated as filed until it is verified. If a client verifies after 30 days, the date of verification becomes the date of filing, which can turn an on-time return into a late one with a fee under section 234F. Most clients e-verify with an Aadhaar OTP sent to their own mobile, so this is the item that most often needs a call. A return still showing "Submitted and pending for e-verification" a week after filing is worth chasing.

Defective return notices under section 139(9)

CPC issues a 139(9) notice when a return is incomplete or inconsistent, for example when gross receipts are reported under business income but no balance sheet details are filled in. You get 15 days to respond under Pending Actions > e-Proceedings. If no response arrives, the return is treated as invalid, as if it was never filed. The notice goes to the client's registered email, which is why it is easy to miss.

Intimations under section 143(1)

The 143(1) intimation compares the income and tax you filed with CPC's own computation. It arrives by email as a password-protected PDF; the password is the PAN in lowercase followed by the date of birth as DDMMYYYY (for example abcde1234f01011990). Read the comparison table at the end, not just the first page. A mismatch in TDS credit or a disallowed deduction is the usual reason for an unexpected demand, and it can be corrected by filing a rectification request under section 154.

Outstanding demands

Demands show under Pending Actions > Response to Outstanding Demand, each with a DIN (document identification number), the assessment year and the amount. You can pay, agree, or disagree with reasons. If a demand isn't paid or disputed, CPC can adjust it against a future refund under section 245 after sending notice. Clients often find out only when a refund arrives smaller than expected.

Refunds that fail

A refund fails most often because the bank account isn't pre-validated, the account is closed, or the name doesn't match the PAN. The fix is to validate the account under My Profile > Bank Account, then raise a request under Services > Refund Reissue. Refund status, including the mode and bank reference, also shows on the refund status page of the TIN-NSDL (Protean) site.

A Tracker That Doesn't Go Stale

A spreadsheet goes out of date because nobody re-checks it, not because spreadsheets are bad. Keep one row per PAN per assessment year, and make the columns the things you act on:

• PAN, client name, assessment year
• ITR form and filing date
• Status as shown in View Filed Returns
• Date of the last status change
• Date you last checked
• Next action and its deadline (for example, "respond to 139(9) by 14 November")

Sort by the last-checked column. Anything not checked in the last two weeks between August and December goes to the top. A practice with 150 PANs checking 15 a day covers every client within two working weeks.

Fewer OTP calls

Logging in to the portal with the PAN and password doesn't usually need an OTP. OTPs come in for e-verification through Aadhaar, for password resets, and for any client who has turned on the higher-security login option in the e-Filing Vault. To cut down on calls:

• Ask clients to pre-validate a bank account with EVC enabled, so they can generate an electronic verification code themselves.
• For forms you file as their CA, such as a tax audit report, have the client add you once under Authorised Partners. You then upload the form from your own login, and the client only accepts it.
• Store client passwords in a password manager your team shares, never in the tracker sheet itself.

Explaining Statuses to Clients

Most status calls are about what the timeline in View Filed Returns means. A short reply covers most of them:

Handling Client Credentials

• Keep portal passwords encrypted and limited to the staff who need them.
• When a client changes their password, update it wherever you store it on the same day, or your next login attempt will fail.
• Clients who have turned on two-factor login need to be online for every session, so plan their checks for a time they can share the OTP.

Where myutils.me Fits

myutils.me signs in to the Income Tax portal for each PAN you add, using the PAN and portal password you save, and brings back the ITR status, refunds, tax deposits, demands, AIS/TIS and filed forms. You can add PANs one at a time or in bulk from a CSV or Excel file. A sync runs when you add a PAN and whenever you press Sync for one PAN or a selection, and the dashboard shows each PAN's latest status from its last sync. Export gives an Excel status sheet with one sheet per assessment year (PAN, name, ITR form, filing date, status, last action date), which can serve as the starting columns for the tracker above. It doesn't send alerts and doesn't sync on a schedule, and portal accounts with two-factor login can't be synced.