New Delhi: Shashi Tharoor, Congress leader and MP for Thiruvananthapuram has criticised the decision of the government to launch a new portal for income tax payers at a peak time when people usually file their returns and claim refunds.
Mr. Tharoor, in a tweet, questioned the rationale in renovating the portal. He said: “The rationale for a new portal is to provide a more user-friendly, modern and seamless experience to users. However, even after spending ₹4200cr on its renovation, the Govt has failed to attain the objective & created a mess instead. This is a replay of the chaos w/the GST portal.”
He asked: “What was the need for a new IncomeTax portal when the old portal was running smoothly for years? Why was the Portal switched at peak time, when Income tax payers usually file their returns & claim refunds? Why was no testing of the new Portal done before its launch?”
He further added: “India has very few taxpayers per capita &a culture of tax evasion &black money. This must be the first time in history that Indian taxpayers who want to pay their taxes are not able to pay because the IncomeTax portal is not working! Penalties should be imposed & heads roll.”
He also commented: “Not clear why govt 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.”
He tweeted: “CharteredAccountants in @ProfCong inform me that the change of IncomeTax Portal has been disastrous, w/glitches incl. longer-than-usual log-in times. Almost all features of the new portal are non-operational, so ITR filing, 15 CA/CB forms, data prep for appeals has ground2halt.”
However, there were many social media users who have pointed out the loopholes in Shashi Tharoor’s complaints too.
One user @Dwiz011 said: “As usual, you are far behind in the unfolding story. There were glitches, the FM was quick to acknowledge them & asked Infosys to ensure they were rectified. Infosys Chairman Nandan Nilekani took it up & Infosys also met FinMin officials to fix issues.”
However, one BJP supporter too agreed with Mr. Tharoor and said: “Being a BJP supporter, I still agree with you sir Thumbs up
This could have been avoided, old portal was so simple & Good one.
Yesterday in office, I wanted intimation order u/s 143(1) of a client, I opened new portal but I was not able to find it.”
However, there were many who defended the new portal and said that it does take time to fix bugs and glitches.
