Why Income Tax Site is Not Working? Reasons Why Income Tax Filing Portal Not Working

The due date for filing Income-tax returns (ITR) for taxpayers who are not covered under the provisions of tax audit is fast approaching (The due date for ITR is 31 July for non-tax audit taxpayers). As there are a handful of days before the due date of filing and late filing of ITR attracts penalties/fees/loss of other benefits, hence there is a massive flow of people filing their ITRs on the website of the income-tax department. This sometimes gives rise to situations where the income-tax portal is not working correctly/efficiently throughout the day, leading to unnecessary delays in the filing of ITRs. During this year’s filing, the technical glitches and issues in the portal are also clearly visible. They can be witnessed through the complaints raised by the professionals on the various social media platforms. Here, we delve into why these issues happen and how you can resolve them.

Why is the Income Tax Site Not Working?

The Income-tax portal is a platform for taxpayers across India to file their returns, reports, forms, view their past tax records, respond to enquiries etc. and is visited by lakhs of persons during the day. You need to access the portal for various purposes, and any malfunctioning/downtime will lead to significant delays in your other work. While the authorities ensure maximum uptime, occasional disruptions are inevitable. Reasons due to which the Income-tax portal may not be working correctly:

• Server Overload: It is the most common reason for an Income tax portal's non-functioning. As the due date approaches, the number of persons using the portal is showing record-breaking numbers, and the servers may not be able to handle the sudden rise.
• Technical Glitches: Some technical glitches, such as unexpected software or hardware failure, also contribute to the portal's malfunctioning on a large scale.
• Internet: One reason can also be your Internet connection. It might be unstable, causing intermittent issues while accessing the portal.
• Different Browsers: The income tax portal clearly specifies that the following desktop browsers are most compatible while operating on the portal. Microsoft Edge (88, 89, 90)
• Chrome (88, 89, 90)
• Firefox/Mozilla (88, 87, 86)
• Opera (66,67,68)

You may also visit the website from the other browsers, but these are the browsers recommended for optimal usage.

• Cache and Cookies: Corrupted and outdated cache/cookies affect the portal’s access.

Some Errors Faced by Taxpayers

• Login Issues: Many of the taxpayers are not able to login on the portal, thereby preventing them from initializing the process for ITR filing.
  • Possible Solution: You can write to the department with details such as PAN and mobile number at orm@cpc.incometax.gov.in
• Aadhar OTP Generation: Some taxpayers are not able to generate OTP with the Aadhar linked number for login/e-verification purposes.
  • Possible Solution: As per the tax department, the said issue has been encountered due to intermittent issues and delayed response from UIDAI. You can write to the department with details such as PAN and mobile number at orm@cpc.incometax.gov.in with the description of the issue.
• Not Able to Navigate Through Portal While Filing ITR: In some cases, taxpayers/professionals are not able to navigate through the portal once logged in, or the navigation on the portal is very slow, causing unnecessary time delays.
• Non-Reflection of Pre-Filled Data: Certain data for taxpayers for the ITR, which is generally pre-filled based on the information available with the department, is not getting pre-filled. 
• Issue in Downloading and Errors in 26AS/AIS: The first step for return filing is to collate and verify the date from 26AS and AIS. There have been issues where taxpayers are not able to download the forms from the websites. And in some cases the data for downloaded statements are incorrectly represented.
• Limited Response/Delayed Update in AIS/TIS: In many of the cases, the responses to AIS/TIS are allowed only in a limited format whereby taxpayer cannot properly explain the matter. 
• Error message: Many times while operating on the site, taxpayers are getting messages such as “Something went wrong. Please contact customer care.”
• E-verification issue: OTPs are not being generated for the e-verification, or in cases where the e-verification of the ITRs is actually pending, it is shown that no e-verification is pending.
• Service Unavailable: In many cases site automatically logs you out showing the message as service unavailable currently due to temporary maintenance.
• Chalan Download: Taxpayers are not able to download the chalans after the payment of taxes. 
• Validation Errors: Validation errors are not removed even after correctly inputting the data, as shown in the validation error.
• ITR Acknowledgments: In certain cases after the income-tax return is filed, the acknowledgment for the same is not being generated.

How to Fix Income Tax Site Not Working Today?

Issues/glitches in the portal can cause unnecessary delays, and entering the same data/information repeatedly can lead to frustration. But don’t worry—here are some suggestive ways by which you can tackle the issue of the portal's non-functioning better.

• Wait for Maintenance to End: You should login and file your ITR once the maintenance, if any, is ended by the department.
• Using the Proper Browser: You should use the optimal browser as recommended by the income tax department to log in to the portal.
• Clear Browser Cache and Cookies: You should clear your browser's cache and cookies before logging in to the portal.
• Use Incognito Mode: One of the way to navigate through the errors is to use the incognito mode of your browser.
• Less Peak Hours: You can try working on the portal during non-peak hours, such as late at night or early morning, when the server is not overloaded.
• Mail to Department: You can mail to the department at the mail address mentioned above orm@cpc.incometax.gov.in with the issues you are facing. Department is helping the taxpayers through social media platforms such as twitter by responding to error screenshots uploaded by the users.

Conclusion

The tax filing may be cumbersome due to glitches/issue faced on the income-tax portal. But you should try the above ways and file your returns as soon as possible. As delayed filing of returns will attract penalties, late fees and interests. With patience and troubleshooting, you will fix the problem quickly.