The Income Tax Department has sought public feedback regarding its I-T e-filing portal launched on October 6, 2024. In an X post, it said: “CBDT has formed a committee to oversee this review and invites public inputs in following areas: Simplification of language, litigation reduction, compliance reduction, and redundant/obsolete provisions.”

The portal was rolled out after Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, in her 2024-25 Budget speech in parliament, promised to review the Income-tax Act, 1961 comprehensively. The review aims to make the Act concise and easy to understand, reduce tax disputes, improve efficiency, and provide tax certainty. She proposed to complete the review process in six months.

Taxpayers can review and give their suggestions about the portal at https://eportal.incometax.gov.in/iec/foservices/#/pre-login/ita-comprehensive-review.

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Suggestions For Review

The Income Tax Act has 23 chapters and 298 sections containing the rules and regulations. According to the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) notification, the suggestions should mention the relevant provisions and rules, along with specific sections, sub-sections, sub-rules, clauses, and form numbers. The suggestion should be related to any of the four categories: language simplification, litigation reduction, compliance reduction, and redundant provisions.

How To File Your Suggestions:

To give suggestions, the stakeholders must visit the website, enter their name and mobile number to log in and verify their identity with a one-time password (OTP). Once logged in, they can suggest related to any of the four categories mentioned.

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The government wants to simplify the rules for capital gain tax, TDS rates, etc. Simplifying the language of complex tax provisions and removing or replacing the redundant provisions will benefit all stakeholders. Due to the complex language, taxpayers had to seek the help of chartered accountants or tax consultants for various tax issues. The simplification of the language will also help avoid unnecessary tax disputes and defaults.

Tax disputes can continue for years at tax tribunals, high courts, and even the Supreme Court. Hence, the feedback is critical not just by the general public, but also by the chartered accountants, lawyers, tax consultants, and other experts to make the system easy to use and accessible. The six-month deadline for the review of the I-T Act will end in January 2025, after which the government is expected to present the amendments in the next Budget session.