Income Tax Portal: Glitches continue to haunt it, here’s a timeline

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The new income tax portal has had a rough start since its launch on June 7 this year. The portal which is marred by glitches has been coming under the purview of the government frequently. The portal was launched on June 7 with the new domain name www.incometax.gov.in. It hit a bumpy start as a number of its functionalities did not work properly and many citizens complained of the glitches they faced. The portal is developed by Infosys and continues to face issues that have drawn a lot of criticism. This has put Infosys in a tight spot.

On August 22, the portal again underwent maintenance after which the finance minister summoned the Infosys leadership on August 23, to resolve the portal’s glitches.

Here’s a look at the timeline of the new I-T portal since its launch:

June 7: I-T portal launched

I-T portal is launched. However, the website faces a lot of technical glitches, after which the citizens take the matter on social media and complain regarding it.

Also Read: New Income Tax portal misses India’s IT excellence

June 8: FM asks for prompt action

Sitharaman tweeted urging Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani to fix the income tax portal glitches and ensure that there is no “let down” in the quality of service being provided to taxpayers.

The much awaited e-filing portal 2.0 was launched last night 20:45hrs.

I see in my TL grievances and glitches.

Hope @Infosys & @NandanNilekani will not let down our taxpayers in the quality of service being provided.

Ease in compliance for the taxpayer should be our priority. https://t.co/iRtyKaURLc

— Nirmala Sitharaman (@nsitharaman) June 8, 2021

June 9: Infosys assures to resolve glitches

Infosys assures that it expects the system to stabilise the portal in the course of this week. The company says it is deeply concerned with the inconvenience caused by the technical glitches in the new income tax e-filing portal, and it is working to resolve all the issues at the earliest.

June 16: FM invites representation from Infosys

The Finance Ministry on June 16 invites written representations from stakeholders regarding glitches or issues faced on the new income tax e-filing portal. Tax consultants also submit their representations pertaining to technical and performance issues, issues of missing data, modules which are not working.

June 22: FM reviews glitches

Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman reviews with Infosys officials the technical glitches that continue to mar the new income tax e-filing portal. Sitharaman, along with Minister of State for Finance Anurag Thakur, Revenue Secretary Tarun Bajaj, CBDT Chairman Jagannath Mohapatra and other senior ministry officials, go point by point on the issues facing the new portal with officials of Infosys – the vendor which developed the site.

July 14: CEO assures to resolve issues

Addressing reporters after the announcement of the company’s Q1FY22 results, Infosys CEO Salil Parikh on the I-T portal issue, said it is the “single largest priority” for the company at present.

“Several of the functionalities are already working there is a large number of returns that are being filed. Some work still needs to be done but we are confident that all these situations will be addressed in a step-by-step manner and all issues will be resolved,” he says.

August 16: Infosys CEO confident

Salil Parekh, CEO of Infosys says, “Many of the areas which required attention at the start, we have spent time on a lot of those things and they are working well today. We are working collaboratively with the department, with the association of CAs, and with a group of individual taxpayers, to make sure we create a great new experience,” according to a media report.

August 21: I-T portal under maintenance

I-T portal again faces technical issues and goes under maintenance.

The @IncomeTaxIndia portal is currently inaccessible due to planned maintenance. We will post an update as soon as the portal is live again for taxpayers. We regret the inconvenience caused.

— Infosys India Business (@InfosysIndiaBiz) August 21, 2021

August 22: Portal continues to face glitches

The @IncomeTaxIndia portal continues to be under emergency maintenance. We will post an update once the portal is available again for taxpayers. We regret the inconvenience.

— Infosys India Business (@InfosysIndiaBiz) August 22, 2021

August 22: Portal live again

The portal is live again. Infosys India Business, the Twitter handle of Infosys India Business unit, in a tweet, says “The emergency maintenance of the @IncomeTaxIndia portal has concluded and the portal is live. We regret any inconvenience caused to taxpayers.” Earlier in the day, it had tweeted that the portal was under “emergency maintenance”.

The emergency maintenance of the @IncomeTaxIndia portal has concluded and the portal is live. We regret any inconvenience caused to taxpayers.

— Infosys India Business (@InfosysIndiaBiz) August 22, 2021

August 22: Infosys summoned by the finance ministry

On August 22, the finance ministry tweets that it had “summoned” the managing director and CEO of Infosys Salil Parekh to meet finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday to explain the reasons for the continued problems in the portal.

Ministry of Finance has summoned Sh Salil Parekh,MD&CEO @Infosys on 23/08/2021 to explain to hon’ble FM as to why even after 2.5 months since launch of new e-filing portal, glitches in the portal have not been resolved. In fact,since 21/08/2021 the portal itself is not available.

— Income Tax India (@IncomeTaxIndia) August 22, 2021