Govt’s new income tax portal a mess, flays Tharoor
Senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Tuesday attacked the Centre over the glitches in the new Income Tax portal, alleging that even after spending Rs 4,200 crore on it, the government had ‘failed’ to make it user-friendly and created a ‘mess’ instead.
Senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Tuesday attacked the Centre over the glitches in the new Income Tax portal, alleging that even after spending Rs 4,200 crore on it, the government had ‘failed’ to make it user-friendly and created a ‘mess’ instead.
Tharoor, who is the president of the Congress’ unit comprising professionals, All India Professionals’ Congress, said chartered accountants in the unit have informed him that the change of Income Tax Portal has been disastrous, with glitches including longer than usual logging time.
Almost all features of the new portal are non-operational, so ITR (income tax return) filing, 15 CA/CB forms, data preparation for appeals has ground to a halt, the former Union minister said.
“Not clear why the government chose to change the income tax portal in June. Would have been wiser just before the end of the Financial Year or the start of the next one, so that taxpayers eligible for income-tax refund could have received help in these difficult times,” Tharoor opined. Hitting out at the government, he asked what was the need for a new income tax portal when the old portal was running smoothly for years and why was the portal switched at peak time, when income tax payers usually file their returns and claim refunds.
Why was no testing of the new portal done before its launch, Tharoor asked.
“The rationale for a new portal is to provide a more user-friendly, modern and seamless experience to users. However, even after spending Rs 4,200 cr on its renovation, the Govt has failed to attain the objective & created a mess instead,” he said in a series of tweets. “This is a replay of the chaos with the GST portal,” Tharoor
added.
Rationale for a new portal is to provide a user-friendly, seamless experience, but this is a replay of chaos with GST portal — Shashi Tharoor, Congress MP