Income tax portal glitches continue to frustrate taxpayers attempting to pay taxes and file ITR for AY 2024-25, triggering calls from tax professionals and individual taxpayers to extend this ITR filing 2024 deadline to August 31. At present, the last date to file income tax returns is July 31, 2024.
Recently, the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) wrote to the Income Tax Department, bringing to its notice the issues taxpayers are facing in filing of tax returns. Many taxpayers also took to social media complaining that the e-filing site was not working.
One of the users wrote that “site is not working, also resolve issue of rebate in case of capital gain … only few days left and no proper improvement in site and no clarification on rebate.” Another user said: “Today is a good day to extend due date. Portal glitches.”
Income Tax Department replies to user seeking ITR filing due date extension
Replying to this user, the Income Tax (I-T) Department said, “May we request you to share your details (along with PAN & your mobile no.) with us at orm@cpc.incometax.gov.in so that our team can get in touch with you.”
This is a major concern as the problem persists with the tax portal even when less than two weeks are left before the deadline to file income tax returns ends on July 31. Against this backdrop, voices are getting louder to urge the finance ministry and the tax department to give taxpayers one more month to comply with the ITR filing deadline.
Types of glitches taxpayers are facing on income tax portal:
One chartered accountant listed a number of issues in his complaints against the Income Tax Department. Among the issues he mentioned are: Difficulty in accessing form 26AS/AIS/TIS and discrepancy between figures in the statements, limited response options in AIS/TIS, delayed update of responses in TIS, technical flitches on the income-tax e-filing portal, mismatch in pre-filled data, error messages during ITR filing and non-receipt of OTPs for authentication and difficulty in downloading filed ITR Receipts, among others.
Also read: ITR Filing 2024: Steps to file income tax return at incometax.gov.in; Check online process
The ICAI in its letter said expressed “concerns in relation to Form 26AS/TIS/AIS and in e-filing the ITR Forms”. It informed the department about the matter and said “Section 139(1) of the Act provides for the statutory timeline of 31st July, 2024 for filing of returns of income of for the AN. 2024-25 of individuals, HTJFs, firms who are not subject to tax audit. Many of the taxpayers are facing difficulty in relation to Form 26AS/AIS/TIS due to glitches in the income-tax e filing portal.”
Now, taxpayers as well as tax professionals are hoping that the income tax authorities will pay attention to their calls and extend the ITR filing due date to August 31, at least, in view of continuous problems with the Income Tax Department’s e-filing portal.