Tax filing deadline nears but new I-T portal faces glitches even 2 months after launch

 







Over two months after its launch, the new income tax portal continues to face glitches, with taxpayers and chartered accountants struggling to file tax returns ahead of the 30 September deadline.

The portal was launched on 7 June but has since been at the receiving end of criticism because of the problems faced by taxpayers in filing returns and in availing of other services. The country’s second largest information technology company, Infosys, is the service provider for the portal, 

From filing a tax return to accessing credit statements to verifying returns online as well, taxpayers are struggling with this “extremely slow” website. The fact that many features, including some tax return forms, are still missing is only adding to their problems.

Nikhil Vadia, a chartered accountant with N.N. Vadia and Co, said it was for the first time in the last two decades that he did not file a single income tax return till July. “There are still many issues that the portal is facing. Even basic things like 26AS downloads, ITR acknowledgement, ITR form downloads and e-verification process are creating issues,” he said.

“Even this month, the returns filed are less than 1% of the returns normally filed. The portal is working very slowly and hence every return is taking more time to file,” Vadia said, pointing out that the new portal went live without on-boarding existing software providers.

Many other chartered accountants echoed this and complained about the wastage of time in grappling with the website. Some even opined that the new website may encourage more taxpayers to approach chartered accountants to file their returns rather than attempting the arduous task themselves.

An email sent to the I-T department remained unanswered till the time of publishing this report. However, in response to a query last month in Parliament, the Ministry of Finance had acknowledged that glitches persist, and said the I-T department is continuously engaged with Infosys to expedite the resolution of any pending issues.

An Infosys spokesperson said in an email response that several of the initial challenges that were identified in the tax portal have been resolved.


“There is some work that still needs to be done, and our teams are collaborating with the Income Tax Department and industry associations, to further enhance functionality, and elevate the user experience for taxpayers,” the spokesperson said.


In a conference call with analysts last month after its first quarter results, Infosys chief operating officer Pravin Rao had said that while many issues raised around performance and stability have been addressed, some intermittent issues remain.

Terming it as the “single largest priority for the company”, Rao had said the company was working to “expeditiously” address all issues and add more features for use of taxpayers regularly.

The new I-T portal was given cabinet approval in January 2019 and the contract was awarded to Infosys through a bidding process. Since then, the government has paid Infosys Rs 164.5 crore for the project.

The portal has been in the eye of a storm since its launch. After it was launched late evening of 7 June, users started complaining about their inability to log in to the portal.

Citing the grievances, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman took Infosys to task, asking the company to not “let down” taxpayers.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Centre appeals against ruling on levy of GST on maintenance charges to resident welfare associations

Image
  The Centre has preferred a writ appeal before the Madras High Court against a single judge's order that flat or villa owners paying more than ₹7,500 a month towards maintenance charges to their residents’ welfare associations must pay Goods and Services Tax (GST) at the rate of 18% only for the amount exceeding ₹7,500 and not for the entire monthly contribution. Justices T.S. Sivagnanam and Sathi Kumar Sukumara Kurup on Wednesday allowed an application filed by the Centre to dispense with production of a certified copy of the judgment passed by Justice Anita Sumanth recently and directed the Registry to list the appeal for admission in the usual course. Justice Sumanth had in July this year quashed an order passed by the Authority for Advance Ruling (AAR) on June 21, 2019 as well as a consequent circular issued by the Department of Revenue under the Union Finance Ministry on July 22, 2019 since both of them had insisted upon collecting GST for entire monthly contribution. The jud
Read more

Seven key things to know before filing income tax return (ITR) for FY21

Image
  The last date to file income tax return for the financial year 2020-21 has been extended to September 30, 2021. Although there is more than two months left for the deadline to end, it is always recommended to complete the task as soon as possible and not to wait for the last minute. Worth mentioning here is that the income tax department last month launched a new e-filing portal (www.incometax.gov.in) to speed up the processing of tax returns. The I-T department will soon launch a mobile application, having all the features of the new portal. This year taxpayers have to take care of the following changes in the ITR filing process. 1) A new utility named JSON has been launched for filing tax return forms for FY21. At present, only three forms, ITR 1, 2 and 4 have been released. These new forms will import pre-fill data such as personal details, salary income, dividend income, interest income, capital gains and all the information available in Form 26AS. 2) Taxpayers will have the opti
Read more

Income Tax Return or ITR for FY20 Can Be Filed Till May 31

Image
  n the wake of severe Covid-19 pandemic, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has decided to extend timelines of various tax compliance dates on Saturday. “In view of the adverse circumstances arising due to the severe Covid-19 pandemic and also in view of the several requests received from taxpayers, tax consultants & other stakeholders from across the country, requesting that various compliance dates may be relaxed, the Government has extended certain timelines today," the ministry of finance said in a statement. The move is aimed at mitigating “the difficulties being faced by various stakeholders," it further added. The “relaxations are the latest among the recent initiatives taken by the government to ease compliances to be made by the taxpayers with the aim to grant respite during these difficult times," it mentioned in a notification. “It’s a welcome move to extend the timeline of various tax compliances as the country is struggling with severe second wave
Read more