FM directs Infy to fix glitches on I-T portal asap

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday reviewed with Infosys officials the technical glitches that continue to mar the new income tax e-filing portal.

Sitharaman, along with Minister of State for Finance Anurag Thakur, Revenue Secretary Tarun Bajaj, CBDT Chairman Jagannath Mohapatra and other senior ministry officials, went point by point on the issues facing the new portal with officials of Infosys - the vendor which developed the site.

While there was no official word on what transpired at the meeting, a statement issued by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) said "the technical glitches shall be addressed fast."

ICAI representatives attended the meeting on Tuesday. The portal launched on June 7 continued to face glitches, including longer logging in time, inability to generate OTP for Aadhaar validation, non-availability of ITRs for past years. Several stakeholders have submitted written inputs highlighting the issues facing the portal as well as areas that need to be fixed. The stakeholders have also highlighted weak user interface, inability to view old demand, grievances and intimation orders as the issues that need to be fixed.

The ICAI in a statement issued after the meeting said that it has been asked to provide its continuous support and inputs to CBDT and Infosys, in resolving the issues, as early as possible.

"The Income-Tax Department said the new portal was aimed at making compliance more taxpayer-friendly, however the technical glitches shall be addressed fast, for convenience of all," the ICAI statement said.

The e-filing portal www.incometax.gov.in was launched on June 7, which the tax department as well as the government said was aimed at making compliance more taxpayer-friendly. This is the portal that common income taxpayers will also use to file their annual returns for assessment year 2021-22, for income earned in financial year 2020-21.

The last date for filing of such returns by individual taxpayers is September 30. At the company's annual shareholder meeting, Infosys had on Saturday stated that it is working to resolve the issues and has already succeeded on some fronts. Addressing shareholders' questions on the matter, Infosys said it is deeply concerned with the inconvenience caused by the technical glitches in the new income tax e-filing portal, and that it is working to resolve all the issues at the earliest.