A copy of the letter sent to the finance minister can be see on the Income Tax Bar Association’s X handle.
The Karnataka State Chartered Accountants Association (KSCAA) and The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) have also written to the Income Tax Department regarding concerns in relation to Form 26AS/TIS/AIS and in e-fiIing the ITR Forms, and other technical glitches on the tax filing portal.
Extension of ITR filing deadline? 11 glitches on e-filing portal; difficulty in logging in, e-verification, discrepancy in forms
Here is a look at the technical issues on the e-filing ITR portal that All Gujarat Federation of Tax Consultants and Income Tax Bar Association have addressed in their letter to the FM.
All Gujarat Federation of Tax Consultants and Income Tax Bar Association stated: “We sincerely hope that the Government under the dynamic leadership of Hon’ble PM Shri Narendra Modi and Hon’ble FM Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman would provide the requisite reliefs to the taxpayers at the earliest.”
Technical Glitches on the portal:
It is also to bring to your attention that once again the Income Tax Portal is not functioning properly for almost a month by now. There are many glitches like – -Slow speed of portal in loading each and every page,
– Upload related issues where upload fails with unexpected errors – Pages becomes non-responsive
– No response from UIDAI for Aadhar based OTP verification etc. are being faced constantly by the taxpayers.
The department addresses the issues through grievances redressal mechanism and also by providing many answers to the queries raised on the official handle on X (formerly known as Twitter) through its handle @IncomeTaxIndia.
There are so many issues where this handle has given standard replies stating There seem to be some intermittent issues. We have flagged them to the team concerned. The technical team is working to resolve the issues. However, please share your details (with PAN & mobile no.) at [email protected] for our team to assist.
It is to bring to your notice that the taxpayers and tax professionals are working hard as now very less time is available for filing Income Tax Returns for the assessee (except audit) having due date of 31st July. This year various issues are witnessed in updating the data in AIS and TIS, which are delayed this year and are still being updated.
Need to Increase Time Limit due to Reporting Requirements & Complexity of Transactions:
In the era when CPC is processing ITRs very quickly and the differences between reporting in AIS / TIS & 26AS v/s Income Tax Return are being communicated as errors or are subject to notices for rectification, it takes time in preparation and filing of returns.
Also, after the introduction of increased limit u/s 44AD up to turnover of Rs. 2 / 3 Crore & proviso to section 44AB having non requirement of audit up to turnover of Rs. 10 Crore in this digital payments’ era, the cases where the due date of 31st July is applicable have increased drastically. Moreover, the checking requirements and application of other provisions such as TDS, 269SS/T, 43B, GST etc. are still applicable to such cases, which require considerable time and efforts before filing ITRs. From the current year reporting under 43B(h) related to payments to MSME has also added the need of considerable time to find figures and consider them for preparation of the Income Tax Returns even in non-audit business cases.
No point in getting extension with non-functioning portal:
The smooth functioning of the e-filing portal is critical to filing of Income Tax Returns. Now a days, professionals need to engage with data from portal multiple times before filing Income Tax Return. Verification time has been reduced to 30 days and Aadhar OTP is one of the most preferred mediums for e-verification of returns. From the current year, the need of DSC is removed even in case of audited individuals, where Aadhar OTP is required.
Till the time the portal does not function smoothly, the extension of due date or any other gesture by the government related to relief in late fees or interest are going to be in vain.
In light of the portal not functioning properly and heavy reporting requirements, you are kindly requested to:
(a)Instruct the technical team, the vendor and officials responsible for maintenance of the portal to ensure that it functions smoothly just like the last year which can cater the increasing taxpayer base.
and
(b)Extend the due date for Assessment Year 2024-25 from 31st July 2024 to 31st August 2024.