New Income Tax Portal - Issue in E-Verification of ITR, Refund Re-issue, Form 15CA / 15CB and Several Others

The Income Tax Department launched the new income tax portal on 7th June 2021 with the assurance of giving the taxpayers a convenient and modern, seamless experience. However, the reality is a far cry from the intended as the taxpayers are facing many problems with the new Income Tax Portal.

E-Verification

Many taxpayers are unable to e-verify after filing income tax returns. The portal stops responding when one clicks on the e-verify option being displayed against the ITR V acknowledgement of A.Y. 2021-22.

Registration of Digital Signature

Digital signatures that were earlier registered in the old income tax portal are required to be re-registered in the new portal. The assessees are facing several problems in registering digital signatures.

Trouble in Submitting Response to E-Proceeding

While submitting the e-response to the e-proceeding, many functionalities are not working. For example, the assessees are finding it difficult to add an authorized representative as the person who is proposed to be added as the authorized representative cannot accept the request.

Refund Reissue

In cases where the issue of refund has failed, the taxpayers cannot raise the refund reissue request as the page turns unresponsive upon selection of bank account to which the refund shall be reissued.

Form 15CA and 15CB

Though the due dates for filing Form 15CA and 15CB has been time and again extended, there is still no functionality available to file Form 15CA and 15CB in the portal. The department has also proposed filing these forms manually and many have resolved to do the same.

ITR of Current and Earlier Assessment Years

Most of the taxpayers are unable to download the ITR filed for current and earlier assessment years in the portal.

Auto-population of Form 26AS

Though the portal claims that data in Form 26AS is auto-populated, it is either partially auto-populated or not auto-populated at all. The taxpayers are required to manually fill in the details from Form 26AS.

Software Allowability

The majority of the tax professionals are acquainted with one or the other private software. Presently, the returns etc. cannot be filed through private software as these software are not allowed on the new portal.

Rectification under Section 154

In the new portal, there is no option for filing rectification under Section 154.

Response to Notices u/s 148/153A/153C

The taxpayers are not able to file ITR in response to Notice u/s 148/ 153A/ 153C of the Income Tax Act for earlier years as downloading of utility is happening erratically and attachment of digital signature is not taking place consistently even though the return is required to be filed within 30 days of receipt of the notice. Many taxpayers have received Notices for the last several assessment years.

The glitches are not limited to the ones stated above. The mailboxes of the Government are constantly buzzing with the issues related to the new income tax portal reported by the taxpayers, tax professionals etc. They are anticipating the issues to be resolved soon.