More than 37.3 million income tax returns (ITRs) have been filed so far this assessment year (2022-23) as the July 31 deadline for filing of returns approaches, according to the tax department.
The official e-filing portal (www.incometax.gov.in) had recorded the submission of 37,341,425 returns until July 27, 2022. More than 34 million ITRs had been filed until July 26, which means 3.3 million returns were filed in a single day on July 27, as many taxpayers rushed to complete the annual exercise.
Also listen: Why you must file your income tax returns by July 31
The rush to file tax returns
July 31 is the last date for filing income tax returns for the financial year 2021-22 (assessment year 2022-23). While taxpayers can file belated returns until December 31, 2022, they will have to shell out a late fee of Rs 5,000, besides losing out on certain benefits.
Out of the 37.3 million returns filed so far, 29.3 million have been verified and 21.8 million verified ITRs processed by the income tax department.
Last year (AY 2021-22), the due date was extended to December 31, 2021 because of the impact of COVID-19 and glitches in the newly launched income tax return e-filing portal. Until December 29, 2021, over 50 million returns for the assessment year 2021-22 had been filed, according to the I-T department.
Also read: Moneycontrol’s income tax return-filing guide
Portal glitches, form delays mar return-filing process
Delays in downloading Form-16, a statement containing details of income and tax deducted at source, among other things, and technical glitches on the portal have prompted demands by chartered accountant associations to extend the July 31 deadline.
“When the Form 26AS is downloaded, we are unable to download the Annual Information Statement,” said Mumbai-based chartered accountant Mehul Sheth.
On June 2, 2022, the income tax department had tweeted about glitches on the portal.
“It has been noticed that taxpayers are facing issues in accessing ITD e-filing portal (https://www.incometax.gov.in/). As informed by @Infosys, they have observed some irregular traffic on the portal for which proactive measures are being taken. Some users may be inconvenienced, which is regretted,” the tweet said.
Users have also faced a challenge in downloading tax credit and annual information statements.
“Additionally, some of the mutual funds and bankers have been updating their tax withholding returns till July and hence the form 26AS/AIS (annual information statement) also gets updated. Hence, the taxpayers need to have these reconciled with their own details (resulting in delays),” said Aarti Raote, a partner at Deloitte India.
Chartered accountants in a bind
Then, there are other niggling concerns.
“We are unable to attach digital signatures. This is an issue as some returns mandatorily need digital signatures. Adding a legal heir for filing returns of deceased, too, is time-consuming and we haven’t been able to file the returns for them,” said Paras Savla, a partner at KPB & Associates, a chartered accountancy.
Some taxpayers and chartered accountants have been unable to complete the e-verification process.
“After returns are filed, there is an issue of electronic verification code (EVC) not being received promptly, which leads to delay in completing this final step,” said Ameet Patel, Partner, Manohar Chowdhry & Associates, a chartered accountancy.
The tax department has not hinted at any possibility of a deadline extension so far. Revenue secretary Tarun Bajaj on July 22 said the government was not planning to extend the last date for ITR filing.
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