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One-time Relaxation for Verification of “E-filed” Income Tax Returns

F. No. 225/140/2021/ITA-II
Government of India
Ministry of Finance
Department of Revenue
Central Board of Direct Taxes

New Delhi, dated 28th December,2021

Subject: One-time relaxation for verification of all income tax-returns e-filed for the Assessment Year 2020-21 which are pending for verification and processing of such returns – reg.

1. In respect of an Income-tax Return (ITR) which is filed electronically without a digital signature, the taxpayer is required to verify it using any one of the following modes within the time limit of 120 days from date of uploading the ITR: –

Through Aadhaar OTP
By logging into e-filing account through net banking
EVC through Bank Account Number
EVC through Demat Account Number
EVC through Bank ATM
By sending a duly signed physical copy of ITR-V through post to the CPC.
Bengaluru

2. In this regard, it has been brought to the notice of Central Board of Direct Taxes (Board’) that large number of electronically filed ITRs for the Assessment Year 202021 still remain pending with the Income-tax Department for want of receipt of a valid ITR-V Form at CPC, Bengaluru or pending e-Verification from the taxpayers concerned. In law, consequences of failure to verify the ITR within the time allowed is significant as such an ITR is/can be declared non-est. Thereafter, the consequences for non-filing an ITR, as specified in the Income-tax Act,1961 (`the Act’) follow.

3. In this context, it has been decided by the Board to provide one-time relaxation for submission of ITR-V/e-Verification for resolving the grievances of the taxpayers associated with non-verification of ITRs for the Assessment Year 2020-21 and to regularize such ITRs which have either become non-est or have remained pending with Income-tax Department for want of receipt of respective ITR-V Form or pending e-Verification. Therefore, in respect of all ITRs for Assessment Year 2020-21 which were uploaded electronically by the taxpayers within the time allowed under section 139 of the Act and which have remained incomplete due to non-submission of ITR-V Form/ pending e-Verification, the Board, in exercise of its powers under section 119(2)(a) of the Act, hereby permits verification of such returns either by sending a duly signed physical copy of ITR-V to CPC, Bengaluru through speed post or through EVC/OTP modes as listed in para 1 above. Such verification process must be completed by 28.02.2022.

4. This relaxation shall not apply in those cases, where during the intervening period, Income-tax Department has already taken recourse to any other measure as specified in the Act for ensuring filing of tax return by the taxpayer concerned after declaring the return as non-est.

5. Further, Board also relaxes the time-frame for issuing the intimation as provided in second proviso to sub-section (1) of Section 143 of the Act and directs that such returns shall be processed by 30.06.2022 and intimation of processing of such returns shall be sent to the taxpayer concerned as per the laid down procedure. In refund cases, while determining the interest, provision of section 244A (2) of the Act would apply. It is clarified that this relaxation would be applicable to all such returns which are verified during the extended period. 6. In case the taxpayer concerned does not get her/his return regularized by furnishing a valid verification (either ITR-V or EVC/OTP) by 28.02.2022, necessary consequences as provided in law for non-filing the return may follow.

(Ravinder Maini)

Director (ITA.II), CBDT

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December, 28
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UDIN for Audit Forms/Certificates can be updated till 31st January 2022

Institute of Chartered Accountants of India

UDIN Directorate
The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India
30^th November 2021

Last Date of updation of UDINs at e-filing Portal

The CBDT has extended the last date for updating UDINs for all the IT forms at the e-filing portal to 31^st January, 2022.

For any clarification, please write us at udin@icai.in.

UDIN Directorate

Update on 30/06/2021- The CBDT has extended the last date for updating UDINs for all the IT forms at the e-filing portal to 31st August, 2021.

Update on 30/04/2021– As per Income Tax E-filing website The timeline to update UDIN of past uploads of audit report and certificates has been further extended up to 30th June, 2021. Kindly avail the benefit and avoid invalidation.

Update on 04/04/2021– As per Income Tax E-filing website UDIN for Audit Forms / Audit certificates can be updated till 30th April, 2021. Earlier the date was extended to 31st March 2021 for missed UDINs between the period 1st February 2019 to 10th March 2021. Press release in regard to extension of due date to 30.04.2021 is expected soon.

Earlier press release is as follows:-

UDIN Directorate
The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India
12th March, 2021

Extension of Condonation Scheme to regularize UDINs

It is informed by the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) that UDINs have not been updated at the e-filing portal for around 2.68 lakh IT forms uploaded by the Chartered Accountants on behalf of their assessees which would result in invalidation of such IT forms. The members are hereby advised to update the UDINs at the portal immediately.

It is also given to understand that owing to several reasons, generation of the UDINs for the documents signed during 1st February 2019 to 31st January 2021 could not be done by the members upto 28th February 2021.

Accordingly, in order to mitigate the likely hardships that would be faced by the tax payers due to non-compliance owing to such invalidation, the Condonation Scheme to regularize UDINs provided by the ICAI vide its announcement dated 31st January 2021 which ended on 28th February 2021 is now being extended upto 31st March 2021. Whereby, all the missed UDINs between the period 1st February 2019 to 10th March 2021 can now be generated upto 31st March 2021 and this is in continuation to the Condonation Scheme announced previously.

However, it may be noted that for all the documents signed from 11th March 2021 onwards, the original guidance for generation of UDIN, i.e. within 15 days of signing the documents will be applicable.

UDIN Directorate

(Republished with Amendments)

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December, 2
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Law Minister Shri Ravi Shankar Prasad launches ‘itat e-dwar’, an e-filing portal of Income Tax Appellate Tribunal

Shri Ravi Shankar Prasad, Union Minister for Law & Justice, Communications and Electronics & IT, formally launched the e-filing portal of Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT), ‘itat e-dwar’, at 04.00 pm today, the 25 June 2021 in New Delhi.

Launching the Portal, the Minister explained the power of Digital India. He said Digital India means empowering an ordinary Indian with the power of technology – To bridge the digital divide between the digital haves and the digital have nots leading to digital inclusion achieved by technology, which is low cost, home grown and developmental. Digital India means a framework for transforming India with the power of technology. He highlighted that nearly 129 crore of the Indian population are enrolled for Aadhar which is the digital identity to supplement one’s physical identity. Nearly 40 crore bank accounts have been opened for the poor and linked to Aadhar.

Using the power of Digital India about Rs.16.7 lakh crore has been transferred to the account of the poor as Direct Benefit Transfer, saving Rs.1.78 lakh crores which was, otherwise, being siphoned off by middlemen. Digital India has positioned our country as a world leader in digital payments. It needs to be highlighted that Aadhar, DBT, UPI and the health scheme, Ayushman Bharat, all are ‘made in India’. Another milestone achievement of Digital India is the establishment of Common Service Centres, which were only 75,000 in number in 2014, now stand at 4lakh. CSCs provide several services that are citizen centric and the Minister suggested that the lawyers must associate themselves in tendering legal advice to the needy through Tele Law programme, through the CSCs. Nearly 9 lakh advices were given during the last 4 years though Tele Law.

The Minister detailed how during the pandemic and the lockdown that ensued the Judiciary functioned through digital means and heard more than one crore cases. He stated that data about more than 18 crore cases are available in the National Judicial Data Grid (NJDG) and he suggested that cases of ITAT should also be integrated in the NJDG. He pointed out that VC facility has been provided in more than 800 jails so that the undertrials are able to appear before the Courts without the police having to bring them physically to the courts.

He further cautioned that this initiative of ITAT must not be seen as a solitary step. Instead, it should be seen as a larger narrative of transformation that the country is undergoing through digital medium. It enables innovation and empowerment and opens new avenues for growth. He expressed hope that ‘itat e-dwar’ will be widely accepted by the lawyers and tax litigants alike.

On this occasion, a virtual function was organized at the national level which was attended by the functionaries of ITAT from all the 28 stations. The members of various Bar Associations also joined the virtual function. It was also attended by the Officers of the Income Tax Department, Chartered Accountants, Taxpayers and other legal luminaries in the field of tax, from across the country.

Justice P.P. Bhatt, President of ITAT, on this occasion, informed the gathering that the launch of e-Filing Portal ‘itat e-dwar’ will enhance the accessibility, accountability and transparency in the day to day working of the ITAT. It would not only result in economization of the use of paper, savings in costs but also rationalization of the fixation of cases leading to quicker disposal of cases. On this occasion, Justice Bhatt also announced a plan to set up paperless courts in the ITAT with a pilot project being undertaken at Delhi Benches of ITAT. It was also informed that even during the period of Pandemic, by using the tools of information and communication technology, various benches of ITAT have functioned and kept up its activity of judicial dispensation. It was revealed that inspite of the restricted functioning of Benches, the adoption of Video Conferencing has brought down the pendency of cases to about 64,500 as against 88,000 on 1^st April, 2020.

The newly developed e-Filing Portal would enable the parties to file their Appeals, Miscellaneous Applications, documents, paper books, etc., electronically.

On this occasion, Shri Anoop Kumar Mendiratta, Union Law Secretary also addressed and congratulated the ITAT for the initiative taken by it developing the new e-Filing Portal. Shri G.S. Pannu, Vice President (Delhi Zone) and Chairman, Computerization Committee, ITAT explained that with the combination of digital court room, virtual hearings and Mobile Application providing Judicial Information, paperless courts will soon be a reality in ITAT.

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June, 26
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Launching of e-Filing Portal of Income Tax Appellate Tribunal

INCOME TAX APPELLATE TRIBUNAL

Date : 4th June, 2021

NOTICE

Subject : Launching of e-Filing Portal of Income Tax Appellate Tribunal.

Whilst the outbreak of COVID-19 Pandemic has posed significant challenges all over the world causing mass disruptions in all sectors, including the justice delivery systems, the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal has responded to such challenges in its own humble way, by rapidly adopting the supportive technologies that enabled continuation of functioning of Courts through the mode of Video Conferencing and, at times, exchange of documentation using web-based platforms in the pandemic period. In this way, we have transitioned from being primarily traditional face-to-face proceedings to online court proceedings also, an experiment which has been very successful and, I am happy to share that the ITAT has adapted to this new landscape quickly.

In furtherance to the spirit of the motto of the ITAT, i.e., ‘Nishpaksh Sulabh Satvar Nyay’ meaning, Impartial, Easy and Speedy justice, we, at ITAT, are pleased to announce for the benefit of all our stakeholders the launch of e-Filing Portal, which has been developed consequent upon the revision of Memoranda of Appeal and Cross-objection under the Income-tax Act, 1961 and has been extensively tested by in-house as well as by pre-identified external users and, the user-acceptance has been reported of a satisfactory level. The e-Filing Portal shall be initially soft-commissioned at Delhi Zone Headquarter with effect from 21st June, 2021, and would be gradually rolled out at all other Zonal Headquarters and other subordinate Benches across the country within a period of 4 (four) weeks thereafter.

The Practice Note regarding launch of the Portal, the detailed Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) and Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) for the guidance and understanding of the end users shall soon be available in public domain.

Sd/-
[JUSTICE P.P. BHATT]
PRESIDENT

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June, 5
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New portal of Income Tax E-Filing Portal to be launched on 7 June 2021

DIRECTORATE OF INCOME TAX (SYSTEMS)

ARA Center, Ground Floor, E-2, Jhandewalan Extension

New Delhi — 110055

Dear

Subject: Launch of new E-filing Portal of the Income Tax Department – Non-availability of e-Filing services from 01.06.2021 to 06.06.2021 Reg.

The Income Tax Department is going to launch its new E-filing portal www.incomeiax.gov,in on June 7t^h, 2021. In preparation for this launch and for migration activities, the existing portal of the Department at www.incomctaxindiaefiling.gov.in would not be available for a brief period of 6 days from 1S^tJune to 6^th June 2021.

Officers in field including AOs, CIT (A), PCIT interact with taxpayers through E-proceedings over the E-filing portal directly or through the NeAC/NFAC for:

Issue of Notices, SCNs and getting response to various E-Proceedings
Conducting of Video conference or adjournments
Issuing Questionnaires, summons, letters etc
Responding to E-Nivaran or Outstanding Tax demand etc
Communicating final orders in Assessment, Appeals, Exemption, Penalties etc

Apart from this Officers access the E-filing portal to view ITRs, Statutory forms, MIS etc.

In preparation for the transition to the new system, the existing E-filing portal will NOT be available to both taxpayers as well as Departmental Officers for a period of 6 days from 1st June to 6^th June 2021. Hence, it is requested that all officers may be immediately informed about this so that they may not fix any compliance dates during this period. All Officers may be directed to fix any hearing or compliances only from June 10th onwards to give taxpayers time to respond on the new system. If they have already scheduled any hearing or compliance which requires submissions online during this period, they may prepone or adjourn the hearing and reschedule the work items after this period, etc.

They may also view/ download any submissions in E-proceedings prior to June 1st and the PDF of any ITRs and non-ITR forms that may be needed by them in advance so that they can continue to work in ITBA system including completion of assessment proceedings where no further interaction with taxpayer is necessary. It is clarified that the ITBA system and the CPC systems will continue to function for assessment related functions. All Orders, notices issued during this period, however, will be made visible to the taxpayer only after the new portal goes live on June 7th 2021.

I would also encourage all Officers to complete all their urgent tasks involving interactions with taxpayers prior to June 1st to avoid the blackout period or typical initial teething issues in the transition. I would like to thank all officers for their patience during the switchover to the new E-filing portal of the Department and seek your good wishes.

With regards,

Principal Director General of Income Tax (Systems)

Central Board of Direct Taxes

To,

All Principal Chief Commissioners of Income Tax,

Chief Commissioners of Income Tax / Directors General of Income Tax

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May, 20
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Mandatory updation of UDINs in all Income Tax Forms at e-filing Portal

Institute of Charted Accountant of India

UDIN Directorate
The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India
12th May, 2021

ANNOUNCEMENT

Mandatory updation of UDINs in all Income Tax Forms at e-filing Portal

Members are aware that the CBDT vide its press release dated 26th November 2020 has mandated the validation of the Unique Document Identification Number (UDIN) generated from ICAI portal in all the Income Tax Form and Audit Reports uploaded at the e-filing portal.

We have been given to understand that CBDT is in process of mandating the updation of UDINs for all IT Forms prior to its upload on the e-filing portal by the members. In other words, members would be required to first generate UDIN and provide the same while uploading the IT forms.

Further, CBDT has given the extension for updating UDINs for all the IT forms at the e-filing portal till 30th June, 2021.

In view of the above, the members are requested to avail this opportunity and update the UDINs on the e-filing Portal at the earliest but not later than 30th June, 2021 to avoid likely invalidation.

For detailed FAQs please click here

For any clarification, please write us at udin@icai.in.

UDIN Directorate

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May, 13
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Extension of Condonation Scheme to regularize UDINs by ICAI

Accordingly, in order to mitigate the likely hardships that would be faced by the tax payers due to non-compliance owing to such invalidation, the Condonation Scheme to regularize UDINs provided by the ICAI vide its announcement dated 31st January 2021 which ended on 28th February 2021 is now being extended upto 31st March 2021. Whereby, all the missed UDINs between the period 1st February 2019 to 10th March 2021 can now be generated upto 31st March 2021 and this is in continuation to the Condonation Scheme announced previously.

However, it may be noted that for all the documents signed from 11th March 2021 onwards, the original guidance for generation of UDIN, i.e. within 15 days of signing the documents will be applicable.

UDIN Directorate

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March, 13
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How to update Mobile Number and Email Id in Income Tax E filing Site?

Direct taxes, is the major source of tax revenues to the central government. The vision of the Income Tax Department is to be a partner in the nation building process through progressive tax policy, efficient and effective tax administration and improved voluntary compliance. Keeping this vision in mind the e-filing portal was developed. The objective of the income tax e-filing portal is to provide a single window access to the income tax related services for citizens and other stakeholders.

Income-Tax Department uses the registered contact details (Mobile number & E-mail ID) for all communications related to e-Filing. It is mandatory that all tax payers must have a valid contact details registered in e-Filing portal.

Issues faced when proper contact details are not provided

It was noticed that many registered users were not having authenticated contact details in e-Filing or may have provided details of other persons for convenience.
This prevented the Department from interacting directly with taxpayers on their personal email and Mobile.
Further, it was observed that in many cases taxpayers were not able to reset their password since the email communication from the Department may be sent to their registered email or Mobile which may be different from the taxpayer’s personal email or mobile.

Step taken by the Department to reduce the errors

In order to get rid of the chaos, the IT department in 2014 initiated a provision which says that ‘one mobile number or email id can be used for maximum 10 accounts as primary contact’.
The provision ensures that the family members (not more than 10 separate users) can have the same mobile number registered in their accounts.
So that the entire communication received from the department (for any member of the family) is visible at a common email or number shared.
Still, it was advised for the taxpayers to enter their personal contact details rather than details on a shared basis (this keeps the privacy between you and the IT department).

Process of updating and authenticating the contact details for New User:

Provide the correct Mobile Number and Email ID during the Registration in the e-Filing portal
Activation link would be sent to the registered E-mail ID and a One Time Password (OTP also called PIN) is sent to the registered Mobile Number.
User needs to Click on the Link provided in the E-mail and enter the OTP received in the mobile number for Successful activation of the registered user in e-Filing portal

Process of updating and authenticating the contact details for Registered User:

After the user logs in to the e-filing account, the user is requested to update the current Mobile number and E-mail ID.
The user should update their personal Mobile number and Email so that the updated contact particulars are registered with the Department or confirm that the Mobile number and email ID already registered is their valid personal contacts.
Upon submitting the details, Department would immediately send OTPs (PIN1 & PIN2) to new mobile number and Email ID.
The respective PINs PIN1 and PIN2 received through Mobile number and E-mail ID should be entered by them in the respective input fields to authenticate that the email ID and mobile are correct.
Upon successful validation the Mobile number and email ID would be updated in the taxpayer’s profile and the process would be complete.
If the PINs are not received within specified time (say 2 minutes), the taxpayer may opt for “Resend PINs” option. The PINs once received will be valid for 24 hours.
The taxpayers are advised to validate the contact details using the PINs received within 24 hours. If PINs are not validated within 24 hours, the taxpayer has to login and follow the same procedure as above again.

Whenever we login into our Income Tax Account, at that time we get an auto pop up to update our contact details and if the contact details are already updated then we get the message of update address details. With general human tendency we usually read those messages and just click on skip button by thinking that we will do this next time and that next time never comes. But because of this habit we forget that how important is that personal information of that user for any of our income tax return related query or refund, etc.

Taxpayers are advised to follow the process mentioned above in the interest of the security of their e-filing account and to directly receive communication from the Department about status of processing and issue of refunds etc.

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November, 21
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Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) is set to launch an e-filing portal

Introduction

In the background of COVID 19 lockdowns, work from home has become the new premise of life. Not only working from home, but one is trying to complete their daily chores keeping in mind the safety of their homes. Resorting to digital means has become the effective way forward for judicial and quasi – judicial institutions on a global level. Our Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has been leading the campaign of Digital India and has emphasized on the fact that technology should be accessible, affordable and should add value.

E-filing portal to be launched

Keeping the same insight in mind and understanding the need of the hour, Hon’ble Justice Pradeep P. Bhatt, the President of the ITAT, has announced on 1^st June, 2020 that an e-filing portal will soon be launched. The portal is to be launched after the compliance of mandatory security audit in accordance with the Guidelines issued by the Government of India is completed.

Now, a taxpayer will not be required to file a big bunch of documents for filing of an appeal before the ITAT. With this facility, the appellants can electronically file their appeals to ITAT and get acknowledgement for the same. Later on, they may submit the physical documents in the Tribunal Office (within the permitted time). All the communication related to their appeals, like filing of appeal, fixation for hearing, adjournments, pronouncements and disposals will be sent to the appellant’s/respondent’s Mobile as well as E-Mail Id. Tribunal Orders will also be sent to their E-Mail Id.

ITAT is of the opinion that this portal is essential considering:-

E-Filing is standard expectation of stakeholders today
The same is in line with the e-Governance policy of the Government
It shall enable an economical and seamless filing of appeals and applications
Maintaining social distancing will be easier amidst the on-going COVID 19 pandemic.

It was also announced that the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) and detailed guidelines for use of facility of E-Filing Portal are under consideration and shall be announced once the E-filing Portal is hosted on the NIC server after completion of formalities.

ITAT hopes that this initiative of development of e-filing portal shall be of immense use to the taxpayers, tax consultants and other stakeholders as it is yet another milestone in the their transition to digitization.

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