Service of notice by AO by email:

1. Rule 127 of Income Tax Rules require that for communications delivered or transmitted electronically under section 282, the e-mail address to which a notice or summons or requisition or order or any other communication may be delivered or transmitted shall be –
(i) email address available in the income-tax return furnished by the addressee to which the communication relates;
or (ii) the email address available in the last income-tax return furnished by the addressee; or (iii) in the case of addressee being a company, email address of the company as available on the website of Ministry of Corporate Affairs.
or (iv) any email address made available by the addressee to the income-tax authority or any person authorised by such income-tax authority.

2. Clause 6(i) of Notification no. 2/2016 [DGIT(S)/DIT(S)-3/AST/PAPERLESS ASSESSMENT PROCEEDINGS/96/2015-16], dated 3-2-2016 provides that in case of non-delivery of email on the primary email address, the notices shall be sent to other email addresses of the assessee available with the department as mentioned in sub-rule (2) of rule 127

3. Hon Bombay High Court in the case of Mrs. Chitra Supekar vs ITO (Writ Petition No. 15580 of 2022) has held that it was imperative for the AO to have checked if there was a change of address before initiating a proceeding; and that a valid service of notice under section 148 is a condition precedent lest it would be a jurisdictional error