The revamped e-filing portal of the Income Tax Department has been live for more than two months. Despite, this there have been several glitches reported on the website. What's more, the portal was even unavailable over the weekend. Several hapless users took to Twitter to vent about the ongoing issues with the portal.
Following this, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman organised a meeting with Infosys MD and CEO Salil Parekh on Monday afternoon. During her meeting with Salil Parekh, Sitharaman has asked the software major to resolve the issues faced by the taxpayers on the Income Tax e-filing portal by September 15.
Sitharaman held a meeting with Parekh on Monday afternoon. She conveyed the deep disappointment and concerns of the government and the taxpayers about the continuing glitches in the e-filing portal of the Income Tax Department, even after two-and-a-half months since its launch, which was also delayed.
The Ministry of Finance emphasised that there is a need for putting in more resources and efforts on the part of Infosys so that the much-delayed delivery of agreed services is ensured. She also sensitised Parekh on the difficulties that the taxpayers have been facing and the problems that are arising on account of the delays in the functioning of the portal.
According to the statement, the minister sought an explanation from Infosys for the repeated issues faced by the taxpayers.
The new income tax e-filing portal (http://www.incometax.gov.in) was developed by Infosys. The launch itself was much delayed and the site went live on June 7. The purpose of the new tax filing process and expedite the refund issue. The idea was to make the process more user-friendly.
In June, the morning after the launch, Sitharaman tweeted: “The much-awaited e-filing portal 2.0 was launched last night at 20:45hrs. I see in my TL grievances and glitches. Hope @Infosys & @NandanNilekani will not let down our taxpayers in the quality of service being provided. Ease in compliance for the taxpayer should be our priority.”
To this, head of Infosys, Nilekani replied, “The new e-filing portal will ease the filing process and enhance the 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.”
Hours after the launch, users complained of issues such as password generation glitches, failure to link old data for past returns and inability to generate an OTP for Aadhaar validation, password generation glitches. While it was expected that the major issues would be ironed out in days following the launch but people continue to face challenges in filing returns.
As complaints continued to mount, the I-T Department on Sunday tweeted: “Ministry of Finance has summoned Sh Salil Parekh,MD&CEO @Infosys on 23/08/2021 to explain to hon’ble FM as to why even after 2.5 months since the launch of new e-filing portal, glitches in the portal have not been resolved. In fact, since 21/08/2021 the portal itself is not available.”
Parekh in this meeting has assured the FM that the company is working expeditiously towards ensuring a glitch-free experience in the income tax e-filing portal. He further went on to explain that he and his team are doing everything to ensure the smooth functioning of the portal. It was also mentioned that 750 team members of Infosys are working on this project with Pravin Rao, the COO of the company, personally overseeing it.
Following the glitches, people have been demanding an extension for the last date to file returns. Earlier the date for filing returns was extended from July 31 to September 30, 2021, in the wake of the unprecedented coronavirus situation. It is expected that the extension will be announced soon.
During the recent Monsoon Session of the Parliament, Minister of State for Finance, Pankaj Chaudhary, said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha that Infosys has been paid a total of INR 164.5 crore under the project.
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