FM says technical glitches in I-T portal to be sorted out soon

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday said technical glitches in the new income tax e-filing portal will be largely fixed in the next couple of weeks and that she has been constantly reminding Infosys on the issue.

“I have been reminding Infosys (the vendor which developed the new portal) constantly, and (Infosys head) Nandan Nilekani has been messaging me with assurances that they will sort it out,” she said. The glitches will be fixed largely in the next couple of weeks, she added.

The new portal was launched on June 7 with an aim to make it taxpayer-friendly. But since its launch users have been complaining of technical issues. Earlier, chartered accountants complained that taxpayers could not view past e-filed returns and many features continued to be marked coming soon.

Following the inconvenience, Sitharaman, herself had asked Infosys (two weeks ago), the vendor who created the portal, and its chairman Nandan Nilekani to fix the technical glitches.

Following that, Sitharaman took to Twitter and asked Infosys and its chairman to fix the problem. Replying to the tweet, Nilekani had said Infosys is working to fix the glitches.

Last year, the dates for filing income tax return was extended till January due to the Covid-19 pandemic. This year, some tax professionals apprehend, the dates have to be extended again given the glitches that the new IT portal has been facing.