Over the weekend, income-tax payers were greeted with SMS alerts about a new e-filing portal — www.incometax.gov.in — that would launch on Monday.

Curious users who logged in early on Monday took to Twitter to complain about the site, saying it had crashed.

However, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) clarified that the portal had not gone live as yet.

Meanwhile, the plans shared by the Department promise an easier time ahead for taxpayers while filing returns or following up on refunds.

Not only can you file income tax returns on the portal, but it is integrated with immediate processing of Income Tax Returns (ITRs) to issue quick refunds.

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

User-friendly aspects

“The new e-filing portal is aimed at providing taxpayer convenience and a modern, seamless experience,” the Department said in a statement.

Also, the portal will provide free of cost ITR preparation software along with interactive questions to help taxpayers with ITRs 1, 4 (online and offline) and ITR 2 (offline) to begin with.

The facility for preparation of ITRs 3, 5, 6, 7 will be made available shortly.

Taxpayers will be able to proactively update their profile to provide certain details of income, including salary, house property, business/profession that 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 (the due date is June 30).

Call centre planned

Taxpayers can also use the portal to submit responses to Notices in Faceless Scrutiny or Appeals.

Also, on the anvil is a new call centre for taxpayer assistance and a mobile app.

It has been clarified that the new tax payment system will be launched on June 18 after the advance tax instalment date to avoid any taxpayer inconvenience.

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