ITR Filing 2024: It is to be seen whether the finance ministry decides to extend the income tax return filing deadline beyond July 31 or not amidst several complaints of technical glitches on the income tax department’s e-filing portal.
ITR Filing 2024: Many taxpayers have reported facing glitches while filing their income tax returns on the Income Tax Department’s e-filing portal. As a reminder, the deadline to file income tax returns is July 31, 2024.
Most taxpayers become active in July to file their income tax returns, particularly salaried individuals who receive Form 16, a crucial document for tax filing, from their employer in late June each year.
This is not the first time such complaints have arisen from tax filers. In previous years, reports have surfaced about technical glitches causing delays in tax filing and even preventing some users from filing their returns.
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Income tax portal glitch sparks demands for ITR filing deadline extension
Once again, this is a major concern as millions of taxpayers have yet to file their returns. This situation warrants extending the deadline for filing income tax returns beyond July 31, 2024, as continued technical issues may prevent many from meeting the deadline, say tax experts.
Meanwhile, the Income Tax Department has acknowledged these shortcomings and is working to resolve them, though the timeline for resolution remains uncertain. In addition, the Aadhaar portal is reportedly also encountering problems, with users reporting delays in updates and rejections of requests.
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Income tax portal glitch: Taxpayers get to social media platforms to voice grievances
Taxpayers have turned to social media platforms to voice their grievances about the challenges they’re encountering while filing their income tax returns. Meanwhile, several chartered accountant associations have written to the tax department, emphasizing the difficulties faced by taxpayers and professionals using the e-filing ITR portal.
The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) has written to the Income Tax Department expressing “Concerns in relation to Form 26AS/TIS/AIS and in e-filing the ITR Forms”. The ICAI in its letter wrote “As you are kindly aware, 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.”
In its letter to the tax department, the chartered accountants’ body highlighted several issues pertaining to e-filing of income tax returns (ITRs). Take a look at some key issues pointed out by them:
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1. Difficulty in accessing Form 26AS/AIS/TIS and discrepancy between figures in the statements;
2. Limited Response Options in AIS/TIS;
3. Delayed Update of Responses in TIS;
4. Technical Glitches on the Income-tax e-filing Portal;
5. Mismatch in Pre-filled Data;
6. Dividend Income Reflection in Schedule OS;
7. Error Messages during ITR Filing;
8. Non-Receipt of OTPs for Authentication;
9. Difficulty in downloading filed ITR Receipts.
Now, it remains to be seen whether the Finance Ministry will heed taxpayers’ demands to extend the ITR filing deadline beyond July 31, considering the genuine problems they are facing, as highlighted in the letter from ICAI to the income tax department.
