In line with the Centre's Digital India vision, Infosys is set to upgrade the Income Tax portal with more options to further ease the tax filing process. “This year over 5 crore users were able to use the portal to file their tax returns and the company is grateful that it could contribute to the Digital India vision,” Infosys CEO Salil Parekh said.
According to Parekh, the company will soon introduce a new set of options on the I-T portal. “Going forward, we are working very closely with the (I-T) department on the next set of areas that will become part of this system as new modules are put together,” Parekh said.
This comes even as the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) announced to extend the due date to file I-T returns under ‘some categories' to March 15. The Infosys led team, which is managing the portal is leaving no stone unturned to not just upgrade the I-T portal but keep an eye on its smooth operations.
According to the Infosys CEO Salil Parekh, the Infosys team is closely working with the Income Tax department on the next set of areas related to the I-T portal as new modules will be operationalised soon.
Infosys, in 2019, was given the contract to develop the new I-T portal, which was launched in June last year.
The new portal, initially marred by glitches, faced severe criticism over sloppy management. Infosys faced criticism for failing to resolve glitches in a time-bound manner. Following large-scale complaints, the Union finance ministry had to summon Infosys CEO Salil Parekh, in August asking him to explain why glitches in the nation's new electronic tax filing portal have not yet been fixed.
Infosys was initially given time till September 15 to get the I-T portal fixed. This was later extended to December 31. Since the portal went live on June 8, taxpayers faced technical glitches, errors and challenges in accessing the portal.
According to the Union finance ministry, nearly 5.89 crore Income Tax Returns (ITRs) for 2020-21 fiscal (ended March 2021) have been filed on the portal till December 31, 2021. Out of the total, more than 46.11 lakh ITRs have filed on December 31 alone.
“On the I-T project, we are extremely proud that as of December 31, as was reported, 5.8 crore returns were filed through that timeframe. On the day itself, over 46 lakh returns were filed and the deadline was maintained…” Parekh said.
On December 16, senior officials of the ministry had a meeting with the Infosys team on the preparedness of the e-filing website during the peak filing period. In that meeting, Infosys had informed the officials about the steps taken, including augmentation of the technical infrastructure and setting up a dedicated war room to monitor the performance of the portal.
