New Income Tax Site- Third time launch of heavy, data guzzling site frustrates return filers

New Delhi, June 11: The government has launched a new tax portal that is supposed to improve taxpayers' experience. However, the glitches in the portal are giving a tough time to taxpayers as well as chartered accountants. “We are unable to perform most of the tasks as the website is not working properly. A simple login is taking at least 10-15 minutes and even after that the pages are getting stuck," said Samruddhi Agrawal, a Surat-based chartered accountant.

 

“We are not able to file the responses to the assessment notices from 7 June onwards despite the launch of the new website. Multiple links are not working which is creating further problems for us. Old forms, income-tax returns and other records are not visible on the new website. I hope that these are only teething problems and things will improve gradually," she added.

 

 

Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday had urged Infosys Ltd, which developed the portal, and its co-founder Nandan Nilekani to ensure the new website does not let down taxpayers in service quality. "We are receiving flak from the clients whose foreign remittances are stuck as the website is not working properly. We are not able to issue certificates in Form 15CB which is required for foreign remittances as the link is not opening," said Piyush Mundada, a Pune-based chartered accountant.

 

 

“Banks will not release payment to the foreign parties until the person sending foreign remittances gives this certificate and it can be issued only using the portal, which is not working properly," he added. The tax department on 25 May had issued a circular that taxpayers will not be able to submit Form 15CA and CB during the intervening period of revamping of e-filing portal that is from 31 May till 6 June. Those who were planning to do remittances during the blackout period of 1 June to 6 June were advised to do it by midnight of 31 May.

 

 

Samruddhi believes that these are initial glitches and will iron out over time, but she feel that a better-planned launch of the website could have avoided the inconvenience to the people. Hours after Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman flagged the technical glitches on the income tax department's new e-filing website, Nilekani said the company is working towards solving the issues.

 

 

 

"The new e-filing portal will ease the filing process and enhance end user experience. @nsitharaman ji, we have observed some technical issues on day one, and are working to resolve them. @Infosys regrets these initial glitches and expects the system to stabilise during the week," tweeted Nilekani.

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