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Critical Compliance Alerts in the Wake of Non-availability of e-filing services from 01.06.2021 to 06.06.2021

The Income Tax Department is going to launch its new e-filing portal www.incometax.gov.in on 7th June, 2021. The new e-filing portal (www.incometax.gov.in) is aimed at providing taxpayer convenience and a modern, seamless experience to taxpayers:

• New taxpayer friendly portal integrated with immediate processing of Income Tax Returns(ITRs) to issue quick refunds to taxpayers;
• All interactions and uploads or pending actions will be displayed on a single dashboard for follow-up action by taxpayer;
• Free of cost ITR preparation software available online and offline with interactive questions to help taxpayers fill ITR even without any tax knowledge, with pre- filling, for minimizing data entry effort;
• New call center for taxpayer assistance for immediate answers to taxpayer queries with FAQs, Tutorials, Videos and chatbot/live agent;
• All key portal functions on desktop will be available on Mobile App which will be enabled subsequently for full anytime access on mobile network;
• New online tax payment system on new portal will be enabled subsequently with multiple new payment options using netbanking, UPI, Credit Card and RTGS/NEFT from any account of taxpayer in any bank, for easy payment of taxes.

In preparation for this launch and for migration activities, the existing portal of the Department at www.incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in would not be available to taxpayers as well as other external stakeholders for a brief period of 6 days i.e. from 1st June, 2021 to 6th June, 2021.

In order to avoid any inconvenience to taxpayers, the Department will not fix any compliance dates during this period. Further, directions have been issued to fix hearing of cases or compliances only from 10th June, 2021 onwards, to give taxpayers time to respond on the new system. If, any hearing or compliance which requires submissions online has been scheduled during this period, the same will be preponed or adjourned and the work items would be rescheduled after this period.

The Department has also intimated external entities including Banks, MCA, GSTN, DPIIT, CBIC, GeM, DGFT who avail services of PAN verification etc. about the non-availability of the services and to request them to make arrangements to ensure that their customers/stakeholders are apprised, so that any relevant activity can be completed prior to or after the blackout period.

Taxpayers are encouraged to complete all their urgent tasks involving any submission, upload or downloads before 1st June, 2021 to avoid any difficulty during the blackout period.

Critical Compliance Alerts in the Wake of Non-availability of e-filing services from 01.06.2021 to 06.06.2021

Taxpayers would not be able to submit Form-15CA & 15CB during the intervening period of revamp of e-filing portal, i.e. from midnight of 31st May till midnight of 6th June, 2021. Therefore, those who intend making any remittance during blackout period from 1st to 6th June 2021, may kindly submit and download their forms by midnight of 31st May, 2021 to avoid any inconvenience.

Further, the Various Compliances for which the Extended Deadline is 31.5.2021 as per CBDT Circular No. 8/2021 dated 30.4.2021, are enlisted as under:

i) The Belated Return of Income for the AY 2020-21 (FY 2019-20) u/s 139(4) can be filed uptill 31.5.2021.

ii) The Electronic/Online Appeal Form 35 for filing Appeals before CIT (Appeals), which were to be filed uptill 30.4.2021, may be filed by 31st May, 2021. However, in the wake of the judgement of the Hon'ble Supreme Court dated 23.3.2021 extending the limitation period in all quasi-judicial and judicial hearings till further orders, the CBDT has subsequently come up with a clarification that the benefit of extended period of limitation as the the said SC Order will be avaialable to the assessees and the appellants. Nonetheless, in order to avoid any subsequent complications, if time and other factors permit, it is advisable to e-file the Appeal Form 35 on or before 31.5.2021. 

iii) Income Tax Return required to be filed in response to notice u/s 148 may be filed by 31st May 2021.