Taxpayers in tizzy as I-T site set for rejig

Mumbai As the Income Tax (I-T) department is all set to launch its new portal, the department's existing portal will remain shut for a week between June 1 and June 6 and it has put taxpayers in a tizzy.

This was informed by the department through a notification, dated May 19. But, the problem is most of the taxpayers are not aware of the department's move. In preparation for the transition to the new system, the existing e-filing portal will not be available for six days from June 1 to June 6, the notification says. It has requested all the officials of the department to immediately be informed about this so that they may not fix any compliance date during this period. All the officers have been directed to fix any hearing or compliance only from 10 June onwards to give taxpayers time to respond n the new system. If they have already scheduled any hearing or compliance which requires submission online during his period, then they may prepare adjourn the hearing and reschedule the work items after this period, it adds.

"The Finance Minister in her budget 2021 speech had stated that the Income Tax forms will be pre-filled with the details of Capital Gains, dividend and interest income. The Income Tax department has released the utilities for ITR 1 and ITR 4 at the end of April 2021 but has still not enabled e-filing of Returns. Moreover, the utilities for other forms are pending till now," says New Delhi-based tax expert CA Abhishek Aneja.

Since the portal of Income Tax is now being completely changed, it may take some time for the tax professionals and tax payers to understand the new procedures for performing various tasks online and in case of any queries, errors or software bugs, the Income Tax department may take additional time to resolve such queries, errors or bugs to make the new portal work effectively. Besides, it will be important that the capacity of handling users is substantially increased so that the portal functions smoothly especially near the due dates when the load of taxpayers is substantially increased, he said.

Commenting on the latest developments, CA Rajesh Mehta national vice president, Central Zone, All India Federation of Tax practitioners, said, "Government has extended I-T returns, TDS statements and tax audit report furnishing due dates well in advance so there will be any panic at the last moment of due dates and it will be a great relief to taxpayers."

EXTEND DUE DATES

• Due date of furnishing return of income for AY 2021-22 extended from 31st July, 2021 to 30th September, 2021
• Tax Audit Report for AY 2021-22 extended from 30th September, 2021 to 31st October, 2021.
• Due date of filing return of income of assessee (audit case) extended from 31st October, 2021 to 30th November, 2021
• Due date of furnishing TDS Statement for FY 2020-21 Q4 extended from 31st May, 2021 to 30th June, 2021
• Due date of filing Statement of Financial Transactions (SFT) in respect of FY 2020-21 extended from 31st May, 2021 to 30th June, 2021