Tax Advocates’ Association Of Bengal Appelaed For Early Resolution Of The Problem Faced By Taxpayers In New Income Tax Portal

TAX ADVOCATES’ ASSOCIATION OF BENGAL

61A, A. J. C. Bose Road, Kolkata – 700 016
Phone : (033) 2226 – 6064 / 2227 – 7402
E-mail ID : taab20062018@gmail.com

DATE: 6th September 2021

To, Hon’ble Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman ji
Union Minister of Finance
Ministry of Finance,
Govt. of India
North Block, New Delhi

Subject: Resolution sought for problems being faced in the newly launched Income Tax portal/Request to resolve the problems & hardships faced by the Common Tax Payers for various compliance under Income Tax Act, 1961.

Respected Madam,

The Income Tax Department launched its new e-filing Portal on June 7, 2021 which was expected to make every compliance procedure much easier, faster and most importantly a hassle free platform as it was earlier since the inception & foundation of the historic “Income Tax Portal“. However, due to improper Functioning of the new portal, the interactive meeting was held by the senior Finance Ministry officials with the Infosys on June 22, 2021 to discuss technical glitches and grievances in the recently launched Income Tax E-filing portal. Stakeholders including ICAI member, auditors, consultants and taxpayers were part of that interactive meeting.

After the above meeting also, glitches in the new e-filing portal has been continued till date.

A meeting was again held by you and your officials with the Infosys on August 23, 2021 conveying the deep disappointment and concerns of the Government and the taxpayers about the continuing glitches in the c-filing portal of the Income Tax Department. Infosys is given with the deadline of 15′ September, 2021 to resolve the issues faced by taxpayers on current functionalities so that taxpayers and professionals can work seamlessly on the portal.

Some of the glitches already been brought to your notice prior to 23rd August 2021, are as under:

i. New Tax Payers are not able register themselves in the portal.

ii. To register any taxpayer on the e-filing portal, it is required to e-verifi, the taxpayer using an OTP which is sent on taxpayer’s mobile number and email id. In case, if the registration of a Non-Resident (NR) is to be carried out, the OTP for the mobile number is _not_re_ceived on overseas numbers, this becomes a major issue when a NR is in a possession of overseas number only.

iii. While opting for Pre-filled data, details of Salary figures, other sources figures and details from 26AS are not getting auto populated with correct data. Some data is not being auto populated in pre-filled data.

iv. Tax payers are facing validation, e-verification and submission issue while filing ITR and other Forms. Some time there is error like submission failed and some times the portal shows error in TDS details, challan details, bank details and DSC error.

v. JSON utility if it is saved from the ITR which has errors thrown up at the time of validation (For ex: Bank pre-validation wasn’t done at that point in time), will show error while uploading at a later point in a time, when for instance the validation is complete.

vi. The option for filing rectification u/s 154 is also not available on the new portal and it is a serious worry because time limit to file the rectification u/s 154 will become barred by limitation of time.

vii. While taxpayers are trying to file responses against notices issued u/s 148, a common error thrown up is ‘something went wrong’.

viii. If companies opt for New Tax Regime u/s 115BAA, MAT provisions u/s 115JB should not be applicable to such companies. However, the new portal is computing MAT irrespective of companies exercising the option u/s 115BAA.

ix. After generating instant E-PAN, the same could not be downloaded from the new portal.

x. Closure orders of Assessment Proceedings (appearing under Services — e-proceedings) cannot be downloaded due to system issues.

xi. The basic details like DIN, PAN, address of the taxpayer is not auto populated when the taxpayers are trying to pay off the outstanding demand through the portal directly.

xii. Notices are issued and DIN is also generated but taxpayers are not able to download them as data is not available on the portal, same is the case with closure orders as well which are been issued by the tax department on account of completion of various proceedings but the same are not available on portal to download for taxpayers.

xiii. The functionality to carry out trust registration (new or renewal) is now available on the portal, however, Form 10A is not functioning appropriately.

xiv. The trail of replies given by the taxpayers in response to, departmental notices, issued earlier are not available on the new portal. Taxpayers do not keep a complete track of submissions made and assessment orders issued by the tax authorities as it was easily available on the legacy portal and therefore, it should be made available on the new portal as well.

xvWe are not able to register the DSC on the new portal as the specific certificate does not appear in the drop down.

xvi. In this respect, we would like to mention some issues being faced by the tax payers which have not been enlightened yet. The problem in new portal being faced by the tax payer is varying from person to person.

xvii. Say there are 5 persons in a group- A Ltd, B Ltd, an individual C and D, and HUF A problem being faced by A Ltd is not being faced by B Ltd, C, D and E whereas a problem being faced by B Ltd, C and D is not being faced by A Ltd and HUF E. Hence, the problem being faced in new e-filing portal is not same for all the tax payers.

xviii. As per the data available in new e-filing portal, there are total 9,48,32,278 individual registered users out of which 6,01,46,901 have e-verified their 1TRs in A.Y. 2020-21. Hence, it is not possible to address the problems/glitches in the new income tax portal tax payer/user wise.

Apart from the glitches which have already been brought to your notice, we have noticed some new glitches in the new e-filing portal which are being brought to your notice and numerated below:

The problem in new portal being faced by the tax payer is varying from person to person. The problems being faced by companies are not being faced by individuals, HUFs, Firms, AOP/BOI. Same way the problem being faced by one company is not being faced by another company or the problems being faced by individuals is not same with the problem being faced by HUFs.

Say there are 5 persons in a group- A Ltd, B Ltd, an individual C and D, and HUF E. A problem being faced by A Ltd is not being faced by B Ltd, C, D and E whereas a problem being faced by B Ltd, C and D is not being faced by A Ltd and HUF E.

Suppose, A Ltd is filing Form 4 under DTVSV. The input in Form 4 is saved in portal and the Form is duly submitted. However, in case of B Ltd, neither Form 4 is being saved nor form 4 is being filed. The portal is also not showing any error in the form.

Suppose C is an individual and is also Karta in HUF E. C has filed his ITR using DSC. But in HUF E, the portal is showing DSC is not registered. Please upload Valid DSC.

Hence, the problems/glitched in the income tax portal is not same for all the tax payers

As per the data available in new e-filing portal, there are total 9,48,32,278 individual registered users out of which 6,01,46,901 have e-verified their ITRs in A.Y. 2020-21. Here, it is not possible to address the problems/glitches in the new income tax portal tax payer/user wise.

The Gist of some new problems/glitches currently being faced by the taxpayers in the newly launched portal is being addressed issue wise as under:

1. LOGIN issues:

i. After providing essential login credential to the income tax portal, the tax payer is asked with the option to upload DSC. When the DSC is being uploaded, the portal is not accepting the DSC.

For Example:

When the tax payer provides login credential in the portal, the portal shows the page as under:

Image Displayed

The tax payer gets two option as above, however, one option i.e. “new DSC” is freezed.

The DSC of tax payer is already registered in income tax portal and therefore while uploading with the DSC as per the option above, the portal is showing, please upload valid DSC.

ii. Login in the case of non-existent entity/deceased :

In old income tax portal, there was option to appoint “Authorize another person to act on behalf of self or Register to act on behalf of another person”.

Many corporate tax payers who have gone into amalgamation and are not in existence had opted to this option. In the said option the existing company (amalgamated company) had registered to act on behalf of another person (amalgamating/non-existent company).

Under old portal, after login to the portal, the existing company used to get two option i.e. for self portal or for amalgamating company portal.

Now, in new portal, the existing company is unable to login to the portal of amalgamating company through its portal. Further, Amalgamating companies are also unable to login to their portal through the PAN of the amalgamating companies as the portal is showing that “Your e-filing account has been deactivated, kindly contact helpdesk: 1800 103 0025 or 08046122000 for more infirmation.”

The aforesaid issue is being faced by every tax payer in the case of deceased, succession and others, where the tax payer is authorise to act on behalf deceased, succession and other as the case may be.

Hence, the compliances in respect of appeals, DTVSV Scheme and others income tax compliances in respect of non-existing entities and deceased has stopped completely.

2. DSC related issues:

i. In case of some tax payers, the portal is showing that DSC is already registered. However, while attaching a DSC, the portal is asking to upload valid DSC.

ii. Whenever the Old DSC of the tax payer has expired, still the portal is showing DSC already registered. The portal is giving option to deregister DSC. But the tax payer is unable to De-register the OLD DSC and upload the new DSC for registration. The tax payers are raising grievance in this respect however the same are not getting resolved.

iii. There are many tax payers who are not required to file forms through DSC. The other options they have got are either to file through Aadhaar OTP, EVC, Net Banking, Bank Account or Demat Account. But these options are not working effectively.

3. Filing of Returns and other Forms

The tax payers are facing several issues while filing the forms. Although it is not possible to mention all the issues here, some major issues are as under:

i. In case of some tax payers, DTVSV Form-4 is neither being saved nor being filed. The portal is time and again showing- “Submission failed! No response received from server”.

ii. In case of some tax payers, after filling all the details in DTVSV Form-4, the portal is showing that the form is incomplete.

iii. Where the tax payer is a Trust, the portal is not accepting the inputs provided by the tax payer at the time of registration or re-registration. In some cases, the portal is not accepting the attachment and in some cases, the portal is not accepting the inputs as required in the Form.

iv. Some of the tax payers are also facing issues while providing inputs in the ITR and also filing of return of income for A.Y. 2021-22.

v. The very major issue being faced is submission/e-verification of Income Tax Forms.

DSC related- issue already discussed above in Point 2.

Adhaar OTP- In case of some tax payers, the portal is accepting Aadhaar OTP but in some cases,

Aadhaar OTP is not working.

EVC — There is no option in the portal to Enable/Disable EVC in the Net Banking: This option is not working at all.

vi. Under e-file option in the portal of some Chartered Accountants, the only option which is available is to view filed forms. No income tax forms are available in the Income Tax portal of Chartered Accountants which are to be issued as certificate under various section of Income Tax Act, 1961.

vii. Copy of return /return acknowledgement filed for A.Y. 2021 is not reflecting in the portal of some tax payers.

4. Replies in case of notices received from income tax authorities

i. Some tax payers has received notice u/s 139(9)of the Act for defective return for A.Y. 2020-21. The return in respect of notice u/s 139(9) in the income tax portal in “E-proceedings” is not being filed. The portal is showing “Something went wrong. Please contact customer care”.

Further there is no option to file return u/s 139(9) in “e-file” option. Snapshot of portal is enclosed herewith.

Image Displayed

ii. In many cases, the notices and the replies to the said notices which were issued prior 1st June 2021 are not being downloaded from the Portal.

iii. Notice is received from CPC for delay in submission of ITR-V to CPC and required to submit condonation request.

The portal is showing the following error:

“Error : : Due to some technical error not able to process. Please check corresponding class and error code ITD-EXEC2003″

5. Retrieval of Data from Income Tax portal

i. In most of the tax payers cases, the assessment/ appeals are pending for A.Y. 2013-14 and earlier years before several authorities like Assessing officer, CIT(A), ITAT, High Court and Supreme Court. However, the data/information for A.Y. 2013-14 and preceding years is not available in new e-filing^.portal due to which proper compliance by tax payer is not possible.

ii. When a return or notice or order as available in the Portal is downloaded, some Pdf files get opened but some Pdf files shows that “the file is damaged and could not be repaired”.

iii. In case of some tax payer, the portal is showing “no form filed till date”/”no data available”.

iv. In case of some tax payers, all correspondences of earlier years are not reflected from A.Y. 2014-15 and onwards are not reflected.

v. The option of rectification u/s 154 is also not available.

6. Others:

i. In the grievance redressal section, the tax payers are raising grievances which are showing as submitted But the response to such grievances is not being-received-by-the-tax-payers.- —

ii. No confirmation email is being received by the tax payer after filing of ITR and other forms, replies to notices or any other communication filed by the assessee in income tax portal.

iii. E-filing help desk is also not working effectively. While calling to the e-filing help desk, the information regarding 4 numeric digits of PAN and date of birth is asked from the tax payer. When the tax payer provides this information, the e-filing help desk says that the PAN and date of birth does not match or the information is not available in ITD data base.

There may be many other issues in the new income tax portal, which has not been identified till date. The issues that have already been brought to you in past and that are being brought at present are only on the basis of the functionality of the portal till date by various tax payers.

We implore upon you Hon’ble Mam to kindly take cognizance of the issues in the income tax portal and

kindly take necessary steps to resolve them to the best satisfaction of taxpayers and other stakeholders.

These disruptions are not due to the fault of the assessee. All extensions to make good the requirement of the issues to address should be only assessee friendly and department should not take benefit to themselves because these glitches are not due to the fault of the assessee.

(SAJJAN KUMAR TULSIYAN)

PRESIDENT,

TAX ADVOCATES’ ASSOCIATION OF BENGAL (TAAB)