§501

Section 501 — Service of notice, generally

Income-tax Act, 2025 (amended upto 2026)

In plain terms: This section says how a notice, summons, order or other communication can be served: by post or approved courier, as under the Code of Civil Procedure for summons, as an electronic record under the Information Technology Act, or by any other prescribed means. The Board can make rules about addresses, including email addresses.

(1) The service of a notice, or summon, or requisition, or order, or any other communication, under this Act (herein referred to as communication) may be made by delivering or transmitting a copy thereof, to the person therein named--

(a) by post or by such courier services as may be approved by the Board;

(b) in such manner as provided under the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 (5 of 1908) for the purposes of service of summons;

(c) in the form of any electronic record as provided in Chapter IV of the Information Technology Act, 2000 (21 of 2000); or

(d) by any other means of transmission of documents, as may be prescribed.

(2) The Board may make rules providing for the addresses (including the address for electronic mail or electronic mail message) to which the communication referred to in sub-section (1) may be delivered or transmitted to the person therein named.

(3) For the purposes of this section, "electronic mail" and "electronic mail message" means a message or information created or transmitted or received on a computer, computer system, computer resource or communication device including attachments in text, image, audio, video and any other electronic record, which may be transmitted with the message.