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According to the tax agency, more than 37.3 million income tax returns (ITR) have been filed so far in the fiscal year (2022-23) as the July 31 filing deadline approaches.
The official electronic filing portal recorded 37,341,425 returns as of July 27, 2022. As of July 26, more than 34 million RTAs had been filed, meaning that in a single day on July 27, 3, 3 million returns, as many taxpayers rushed. to complete the annual exercise.
July 31 is the deadline to file tax returns for the fiscal year 2021-22 (the fiscal year 2022-23). While taxpayers have until December 31, 2022 to file late tax returns, they will have to pay a late fee of Rs 5,000 on top of losing some benefits.
Of the 37.3 million tax returns filed to date, 29.3 million have been verified and 21.8 million verified RTIs have been processed by the Income Tax Office.
Last year (AY 2021-22) due to the impact of COVID-19 and issues with the new online tax filing portal, the due date was extended to December 31, 2021. As of December 29, 2021, More than 50 million tax returns have been filed for the 2021-22 fiscal year, according to the IT department.
Problems in the portal, and delays in the forms hinder the return process
Delays in loading Form 16, a declaration that contains information on income tax and withholding tax, among others, and technical problems in the portal led the auditors’ associations to request an extension of the deadline of 31 December July.
On June 2, 2022, the Income Tax Service tweeted about portal outages.
“Taxpayers have been identified as having issues accessing the ITD eFiling portal. Many have observed inconsistent traffic on the portal for which proactive steps are being taken. Unfortunately, some users may be harassed,” the report reads. statement tweet.
Users also faced the challenge of uploading tax credits and annual information returns.
“In addition, some mutual funds and bankers updated their withholding tax returns through July, and as a result, the Form 26AS/AIS (Annual Information Return) will also be updated. Therefore, taxpayers have to reconcile them with their own information (causing delays)
Some taxpayers and auditors were unable to complete the electronic verification process.
After submitting the returns, there is an issue with the electronic verification code (EVC) not being received immediately, delaying the completion of this final step.
So far, the tax authorities have not indicated any possibility of extension. On July 22, Finance Minister Tarun Bajaj said the government had no plans to extend the ITR filing deadline.
