No taxing question: Extend ITR filing deadline

Very rarely, if at all, is the Union finance ministry embarrassed in a year of buoyant direct tax, especially income tax. Ironically, embarrassment has hit a high at a time when personal income tax collection has exceeded corporate tax. Ironically, this strange incompatibility was achieved when the new, revamped Income Tax portal was launched by Infosys, one of the country’s jewels in the corporate crown. The company that helped India reinvent its image abroad as a software powerhouse handed over a new, revamped IT portal that produced nightmares for the seasoned income tax professional for weeks together not to speak of the common man.

The glitches spanned almost all services such as checking one’s earlier returns to submitting last year’s returns and for all categories of taxpayers. The troubles were so stubborn that Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman was compelled to hold meetings with the company’s bosses twice – once with non-executive chairman Nandan Nilekani and the second time with chief executive officer Salil Parekh. A peeved Sitharaman did not conceal the government’s embarrassment over the fiasco. On August 23, she gave the vendor a deadline of September 15 to solve the glitches. When Parekh said they have deployed as many as 750 employees to deal with the problem, he was told to marshal more resources if required.

While the company tries to do its job, the government must extend the time of filing IT returns beyond the September 30 deadline. Even if Infosys manages to pull off the troubleshooting marathon by the new deadline, the common man would get a trouble-free portal for a mere 15 days to file tax returns. Many have to collect documents and visit income tax lawyers and professionals, while many would try to submit returns themselves. Those who have to navigate the new portal themselves would, without a doubt, won’t find it an easy task. Hit badly by the pandemic, the common man is struggling to set his life in order once again. The least that the finance minister can do is to extend the deadline. Last year the government had finally set the final deadline for filing ITRs for FY20 on January 10, 2021.