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Fix E-Filing Glitches Or We'll Extend Filing Deadline: Gujarat High Court To CBDT

The court has asked CBDT to fix the glitches in the income tax e-filing portal immediately.

<div class="paragraphs"><p>The court on Tuesday has asked the CBDT to fix the glitches in the income tax e-portal immediately.&nbsp;(Source: BloombergQuint)</p></div>
The court on Tuesday has asked the CBDT to fix the glitches in the income tax e-portal immediately. (Source: BloombergQuint)

The Gujarat High Court on Tuesday directed the Central Board of Direct Taxes to fix the glitches in the income tax e-filing portal immediately, failing which it will extend the filing deadline from Feb. 15 to March 15.

If the glitches continue till Feb. 10, just five days before the due date, then we shall issue a writ, which will have an effect across the whole country. We will extend the due dates from Feb. 15 to to March 15, 2022.
Gujarat High Court

The remarks by the court came in a plea filed by the Southern Gujarat Income Tax Bar Association seeking to submit physical copies of tax returns and audit reports.

The petition sought an extension of due dates for filing tax returns and furnishing tax audit reports. And, that the government should not levy interest or penalty on belated filings owing to glitches in the tax e-filing portal.

Last week, after persistent requests from taxpayers and chartered accountants the government extended due dates for filing of income tax returns and various reports of audit for assessment year 2021-22. The deadlines were extended to Feb. 15.

Tax payers said they were facing difficulties in filings due to a spike in Omicron-Covid cases and due to technical glitches in the income tax e-filing platform.

The new e-filing portal, launched on June 7, 2021, has experienced much technical trouble since.

In Tuesday's hearing, the counsel appearing for CBDT told court that providing an email ID for assesses or taxpayers to send their ITR and audit reports as attachments is not possible. CBDT's stand came in response to a suggestion made by Senior Advocate Tushar Hemani, appearing for the petitioner association, on Monday.

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Hemani's proposal was if a taxpayer is unable to upload his returns because of technical glitches in the portal, the government can come up with an email ID and taxpayers may be allowed to send mails to that ID, with the income tax return or tax audit report as an attachment.

After which, the CDBT can either upload the return directly or eventually allow the taxpayer to upload when the portal is problem-free. The email sent by the taxpayer can be treated as a document indicating that the taxpayer has complied with the income tax provisions before the due date.

Also, the e-mail receipt from the authority would be an acknowledgement of having filed ITR, he said.

As the hearing progressed on Tuesday, the court asked the CBDT to direct its highest officer to file an affidavit stating that all glitches in the portal will be taken care of. If the problems are not attended to, then the officer will be personally responsible for it, the court said.

We want an assurance from the highest officer of the CBDT that if any technical glitches crop up and any assessee finds it difficult to upload the audit report, then the problem will be attended within 48 hours, by whatever means they would like to adopt.
Gujarat High Court

The court also took exception to CBDT's "obstinate attitude" with regard to the fixing the problems faced by taxpayers in e-filing.

As the CBDT is in charge of the portal, they are supposed to maintain and manage it, the court said.

Assesses shouldn't come begging before CBDT, saying "please help us". And if there is any genuine problem, CBDT is expected to take care of it.
Gujarat High Court

As the hearing drew to a close, the court orally assured taxpayers that no liability will be imposed on those who have faced difficulty while uploading income tax returns or furnishing tax audit reports in the tax portal.

The case will be next heard on Jan. 21.

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Same Problem, Other Courts

This is not the only plea before a high court underscoring the difficulties faced by taxpayers in filing ITR and audit reports.

In the first week of January, the Gujarat High Court had issued notice in a plea filed by the Surat Chartered Accountants Association, which asked it to direct the revenue department to not levy interest on late filings, especially since the CBDT itself has extended filing deadlines on several occasions due to glitches in the e-filing platform.

The CBDT has been asked to file its response in the matter.

Last week, the Rajasthan High Court disposed a plea moved by the Tax Bar Association, Jodhpur, seeking similar reliefs. The court was prompted to do so after the last dates for filing returns and tax audit reports were extended.

While parting with the order, a division bench of Chief Justice Akil Kureshi and Justice Rekha Borana expressed hope that the tax department would immediately fix the difficulties faced by taxpayers in the portal without its intervention.

At this stage, we leave it to the administration to deal with these issues at its level. We are hopeful that proper resolution of the difficulties of assessees would be made at the level of the administration itself without the requirement of Court's intervention.
Rajasthan High Court