New e-filing portal of Income-tax department goes live: top features to know

The Income Tax Department has launched its new e-filing portal, which can be accessed on the new e-filing website at www.incometax.gov.in.

The new e-filing portal is aimed at providing taxpayer convenience and a modern, seamless experience to taxpayers, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) said in a statement.

Also, the new taxpayer-friendly portal has been integrated with the immediate processing of Income Tax Returns (ITRs) to issue quick refunds to the taxpayers. However, the new tax payment system will be launched on June 18th, 2021 after the advance tax installment date to avoid any taxpayer inconvenience.  

After the launch of the new e-filing portal, CBDT is now set to release a mobile application, to enable taxpayers to get familiar with the various features.

Here are the top features you want to know about:

1. The new taxpayer-friendly portal is integrated with immediate processing of Income Tax Returns (ITRs) and will enable quick refunds to taxpayers;
2. All interactions and uploads or pending actions will be displayed on a single dashboard for follow-up action by the taxpayer.
3. Moreover, free-of-cost ITR preparation software will be available with interactive questions to help taxpayers for ITRs 1, 4 (online and offline) and ITR 2 (offline) to begin with. Though, the facility for preparation of ITRs 3, 5, 6, 7 will be made available shortly, as the IT department stated.
4. Taxpayers will be able to proactively update their profile to provide certain details of income including salary, house property, business/profession which will be used in pre-filling their ITR. 
5. Detailed enablement of pre-filling with salary income, interest, dividend, and capital gains will be available after TDS and SFT statements are uploaded (due date is June 30th, 2021);
6. New call center for taxpayer assistance for prompt response to taxpayer queries. Detailed FAQs, User Manuals, Videos, and chatbot/live agent also provided;
7. Users can access the website via multiple platforms with secure and multiple options for login and for processing online payments.
8. Functionalities for filing Income Tax Forms, Add tax professionals, Submit responses to Notices in Faceless Scrutiny or Appeals would be available.