New ITR e-filing portal goes live: Here's what you need to know

The faceless scrutiny or appeals facility will now be available to taxpayer via the I-T Department’s new e-filing portal. (Image: Shutterstock)

The new Income Tax Returns (ITRs) e-filing website has gone live, with new features to make the process smoother.

"Thank you all for being patient with us during our transition to the new e-filing portal. The e-filing 2.0 went live at 8:45 pm today & represents an important milestone in our constant endeavor to make the compliance experience more taxpayer-friendly," The Income Tax Department tweeted on June 7.

"The new e-filing portal is aimed at providing taxpayer convenience and a modern, seamless experience to taxpayers," the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) said in a statement on June 5.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman also tweeted about the ITR e-filing portal.

"The much-awaited e-Filing portal 2.0 went live at 20:45 hrs yesterday. An important milestone to make the compliance experience more taxpayer-friendly," she tweeted.

Also read - New ITR e-filing portal: New feature for Faceless Scrutiny Scheme

The new portal (www.incometax.gov.in) will be integrated with the immediate processing of ITRs to issue quick refunds to taxpayers.

The CBDT, which comes under the Ministry of Finance, also said that a mobile app of the portal will be released after the launch of the portal.

Also read - New ITR e-filing portal | Taxpayers to get free software: All you need to know

Here are the features of the new ITR e-filing portal:

All interactions and uploads or pending actions will be displayed on a single dashboard for follow-up action by taxpayers.

Free of cost ITR preparation software available with interactive questions to help taxpayers for ITRs 1, 4 (online and offline) and ITR 2 (offline) to begin with; Facility for preparation of ITRs 3, 5, 6, 7 will be made available shortly.

Taxpayers will be able to update their profile with details of income including salary, house property, business/profession which will be used in pre-filling their ITR. Detailed enablement of pre-filling with salary income, interest, dividend, and capital gains will be available after TDS and SFT statements are uploaded (due date is June 30th, 2021)

New call center to respond to taxpayer queries. Detailed FAQs, user manuals, videos, and chatbot/live agent will be provided.

Functionalities for filing Income Tax Forms, add tax professionals, submit responses to notices in faceless scrutiny or appeals would be available.