CA Sandeep Kanoi
Income Tax department has vide its press released dated 19.06.2014 has mandated registration of email id & mobile no. on Income Tax e-filing website i.e. on https://incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in/. It said that It is mandatory that all tax payers must have a valid contact details registered in e-Filing portal.
Press release said as follows :-
One mobile number or email ID can be used for a maximum of 4 user accounts as the Primary Contact- Mobile Number and Email ID in e-Filing. This is to ensure that family members (not exceeding 4 separate users) not having personal email or mobile can be covered under a common email or mobile, but in general taxpayers should have their own unique email ID and Mobile registered with the Department.
Considering the very low availability of Internet Facility in India especially in villages and smaller cities the move is the one which is not appreciated by tax professionals. Some of the professionals has also demanded that Limit of 4 registrations against a mobile number/email registration must be removed immediately.
One more practical difficulty may be in registration of Non-Residents, who do not have mobile facility in India. It is knot known, if they can register with foreign mobile number.
One of our reader Mr. Vijay K. Malik said that ” It is not possible for ordinary person like chai walla, paan walla, small shop keepers to have their personal email id. This type of procedural hurdle will create more trouble for tax consultants, they have to create email id for their clients on their names, which seems to be more illegal to crate this type of email id. Income Tax Department has to think from this angle also. “
CA V Swaminathan commented that ” The newly announced procedure for bringing on IT Record the particulars for communication to taxpayers is prima facie cumbersome and spells additional hassle. Further,more importantly, it does not seem to talk about updating of physical ‘address’. As suggested before,in consideration of ‘balance of convenience’ , by having suitable changes made in the department’s computerized system itself, the said address may be updated on the basis of the address/changed address as filled in / reported, in the tax return lastly filed and on its record.”
In our opinion government move is with good intentions but been made without considering the ground realities, which needs a reconsideration.
Latest Update on above-One mobile number or email ID can now be used for 10 Income Tax Accounts
Please check for email from Department for PIN in your Inbox as well as the Spam or Junk folder (mail id – [email protected])
Author Bio
I have never registered online to return my file. Even i am going to return my file for the first time. But it is seen that against my PAN no it is already registered with an unknown mb no which is not belongs to me. even it was not belonged to me before.. Now how should i get the OPT on my valid no or email id with new registration..?? And even what this case should be if i had not assuredly registered by my own before ?
Though this facility has been provided to help taxpayer and Department both however my experience is that aptitude is not helpful. I had registered my User_id in 2012 and since then I am trying to utilize the same for e_filling purposes. But sorry so to say that even a series of reminder /request to [email protected], they have not validated till now. Help desk has also no solution of the same. I am sorry to mention that they are simply suggesting that I should continue submission of required information, called by help desk. It will be validated on due course.
I think this is only a harassment aptitude of the Deptt.
Whether one can suggest me, I can upload my e_filling through my friend’s user_id?
I had given my mobile verification code for my office use for that of client ITR . tell me if it is any disadvantage for me or not…
My CA Mr. Puneet Duggal using a very unique virtual email service from last 1 year, where he manages all his clients unique email ids automatically without creating new ones and receives all emails in his single email id. Because every client email come by his/her name, they are automatically saved in their individual folders and its very easy to manage. 100+ CA are already using this service.
For details you can call 092168-06695
Income tax Dept must have to think about senior citizen who do not have email id in urban areas even Metro cities. suppose, If their mail ID creates by any professional but they will not be able to check it regularly. Income tax Department must have to think about to this serious problem.
If a taxpayer (me) gives personal information like mobile number and mail id to a professionals to file income tax returns and he uses it to filing of ITR for more than one person…? How to unsubscribe mail id for other users..?
As stated on another link, the dept has relaxed it to 10 nos from four. Fair enough.
I personally feel that 1 mobile no and e mail id for only 4 assesses needs to be withdrawn immediately.
every person not belong the email address. also if a person his refund of rs 500.00 but no mail address.
if a practioner file return of income 500 cases means can he open is more than 100 email add.
so govt seat in dehil and face towered to america not in village
My client lives in Kanpur and has never used email & his son studies in Pune. He says that he’ll have to get in touch with his son since he is not able to understand what department wants. Moreover his family consists of 5 assessees.
This process will tremendously slow down e-filing process and will cause waste of energy & time and frustration for bulk filers especially during peak period like 31st July, 30th September & 31st March.
1) The condition of updating primary details should be made optional. It can be made compulsory for companies & big assessees having Income of say more than 25 lac.
2) The bulk filers like CAs and Advocates should be allowed to use their own email ID and mobile numbers (like before). Tax professionals have valid Power of Attorney or Vakalatnama so it makes no logic why tax professionals cant give their email ID and mobile numbers. In the ITR their should be an option of ‘Bulk filer’ for CAs/Advocates and the ‘Bulk filer’ can register himself with digital signature with E-filing portal.
Income Tax E Filing: How to USE same E Mail ID for more than 4 times!!!
Here is the SOLUTION>>>
Open a gmail account (if not having one) or any other domain which ignore . (dot) in the email ID. Say my gmail ID is manoj76ag @ gmail.com. Now, because gmail admin ignore dot within ID, if anyone send email to manoj.76ag @ gmail.com or manoj76.ag @ gmail.com or m.a.n.o.j76ag @ gmail.com or in any permutation and combination, it will be treated as same ID by gmail and i will receive all mails at one ID!!! angel. However,www.incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in will consider all these IDs as different IDs. Effectively, you can use same email several times!!! Hope this will SAVE you lot of troubles. ENJOY E Filingyes
90% of the assessees entrust everything to practitioners and they do not have time and facility to follow up these things. Many of them do not have e mail id. Many of them cannot be contacted when the practitioners start filing their returns. so how to get the PIN numbers etc. So you will not be able to login or cannot take 26AS or other details of the clients as per your work plan. The client will call back at night and ask why you have called me. By the time the PIN will have no validity.
Then, now we open our mail id daily and whatever Notifications or demands of the clients are there will be attended immediately. If we create seperate mail id for each client, how many mail ids can one open in each day. Can we have a seperate staff for this?
So, All the Notifications and Demand Notices will go UN NOTICED.
The Recent circular should be withdrawn immediately. It is not practical and shall lead to lot of hassles to tax Consultants/CAs.
It is true that this system is not at all in the interest of the tax payers and return filers. The Income Tax Department must consider this and should remove at least the compulsion of compulsory e-mail OR e-mail only for 4 users which will be also a great relief. The problem will be much severe for senior-citizens and businessmen who live in rural areas and have no knowledge of e-mail and all this stuff. TIME TO UNITE ALL PROFESSIONALS AND FORCE THE ITD TO REMOVE THIS CONDITION.
I appreciate the observation of Sri S Prakash, highlighting the ground reality of our country as a whole. I request Sri CA Sandeep Konai to take up with the appropriate authority to rescind the order forthwith as the filing of returns is picking up and to prevent serious bottle neck for filing of returns.
Further comment on this is waste of time and energy.
sir,
Limitation of 4 mail id and 4 mobile numbers for registration on the Income Tax Web in the name of security is a foolish decision of the Board/Government. In a place like Tumkur even the mobile numbers itself will not work as there will be no signals, and internet impossible with this POWER SHORTAGE as we cannot get continuous supply of power to work in the computers. If the Clients mail id and mobile number is given they will just forward the same to the Advocate, Tax Consultants and Ca’s and this is the recent experience of number of consultants. In such a situation providing PIN on Mobile and E-Mail id etc cannot be dreamed off in a country like INDIA as the infrastructure is still not a reality. Whether the members sitting in the CBDT are in India, and framing all these for INDIA or they are sitting in USA? Whether our new PM and Finance Minister are working for India or for some other county? They should know the ground reality before introducing these procedures. If it happens how can you meet the target of WORLD BANK’S WIDENING OF THE TAX BASE? GST IT CODE AND OTHER REFORMS WITH OUT THE TAX PAYERS.KINDLY SCRAP THE INSTRUCTION.
S.PRAKASH,
ADVOCATE AND INCOME TAX CONSULTANT,
SREE GURU KRUPA,
NO.12/1,9TH CROSS,
S.S.PURAM,
TUMKUR-572102.
I concur with CA Laxmanan’s observation. Best thing is to do away with this new rule as it is without justification, What govt will achieve with this is not possible to comprahend.
I too agree that the small Tax practitioner who are not fully qualified CA ( say Inter CA/ Tax practice ) who does Practice on Part Time basis and work for small transporter, Retailers , Tailors, garage owners files IT return – they do not have their own Email further they do not have full knowledge of IT also – they are fully dependent on us- so in that case how it is possible that there should be limit for 1 Cell number & email id for only 4 person, thus this Limit be removed.
Dept should consider this hardship too- faced by all.
Filling up the e-mail id & mobile no.of the assessee should be made optional and there should be no limit for the additional e-mail id and mobile no. to be provided wherein we can give the e-mail id & mobile no. of the CA or any other professional who files the same. Many assessees do not have e-mail id and many do not even know how to read SMS. Think of those who do not know English.
This is how the govt deparetment works. They should concentrate of main things than ‘beating around the bush’. I just cannot comprahend the logic or justification for this rule.
Income tax department unnecessarily harassing honest tax payer by notifying unnecessary procedure. I do not understand how this will help department? Having one contact details make task of department easier compared to Individual mobile & Email to trace the information of particular class of assesses.
Now a days corporate culture with Centralized Taxation and corporate department are functioning. Separate Email and Mobile will force company to maintain decentralized department which will unnecessarily increase cost of companies and there is chance of increase in non compliance.
I do not understand how the department will get benefit by implementing this.
I do not understand what makes Govt. to take such decisions. The circular should be immediately withdrawn first. Govt. authorities should discuss their requirement which makes them take such decisions , with various Bodies like ICAI , Tax Practioner Associations, Business associations etc.
If at all Govt. considers it must to reach directly to the assessees, then Govt. may restrict mobile No.s only. No restriction on e-mail IDs. And then whenever Govt. sends any communication it must be sent simultaneously on the mobile no. as well as e-mail Ids.
This way communication will reach to both. The assessees as well as the professionals. Purpose of both will be served.
CA ASHWIN GALA
The Recent circular should be withdrawn immediately. It is not practical and shall lead to lot of hassles to tax Consultants/CAs, in these crucial months
it is strongly requested to give up one mobile for only 4 PAN. Many assessees irrespective of educated or professionals are panic if any sms or mail comes from income tax. many may not look their mail regularly. so, along with Professionals Phone and email ID, assessees phone and email ID may be taken. But the information must be definitely to Professional for quiet some more time for more comp[liance is necessary.
It is true that It dept not understood the difficulties in filling the return due to which following problems :
1. every should have internet connection.
2. open both simulteneous mobile and email.
3. Pin number is valid for limited time.
4. Filing time will be more and assesses should be there while filing.
5. Unnecessary tension to assessee and practioner.
6. Most of the assessee does not have user id ( senior citizen )
7. Rate of filling at the end (25th -31 july ) will be drastically affect
8. Revenue targets for IT dept will be reduce due to these constrains
9. all PSU’s and MNC workers are comes under slab but they dont have email id.
10.fee for filling will be increased and ultimately affects assessee and practioner ( who is helping the IT dept in various angles for several hundred years ).
11.Transparency required but it will affects basic filling requirement.
12. how to fill the NRI returns due to its different country mobile network.
13.Tracking the status of the process is very difficult.
14.new system should consider the ground realities before its implementation otherwise it affect the system as whole.
Suggestion :
1.Assessee’s mobile and email id required for submitting the return and practioner mail id cannot be used or no of usage restriction.
Hence its humble request to IT department to remove/amendment in these condition for filling which will increase the revenue to IT depat and lesser time to filling by individual or IT practioner.
In this rush period i.e., hedging towards 31st July, this has become a serious problem. All assessee’s are not using Internet all the time though they have mail ID. It is really time consuming. Government should reconsider its decision.
This is retrograde and should be scrapped.
I agreed CA shailesh sir things.
I personally feel that 1 mobile no and e mail id for only 4 assesses needs to be withdrawn immediately.
Firstly, not all assesses are tech savvy and don’t use emails regularly.I think people will start filling paper returns rather than online filling because of this problem as many people are not having E mail ID,s.
if we creat new e mail Id for clients they will be inactive for the whole year as they do not have any other use leading to other problems.The Income Tax Department does not seem to have considered the ground realities while implementing this provision.The IT department must have to think, why they are creating more complications to the assesse and consultants.The deptt should think again and change the system currently adopted immediately.
IT Department should take into consideration the limitations of common man, all may have cell phones but not e-mail id’s. The given restrictions should not be there by IT Department.
we face serious problem at the time of registration of new client for on-line return. for activation of his/her account client has to forward their mail to our account which is very harass for client as well as tax consultant.
so, basically so much practical problem we have to face if I.T department not withdrawn this rule
90% OF THE ASSESSEE ARE HAVING THEIR OWN MOBILE NUMBAER BUT MAY BE ONLY 10% OF THE ASSESSEE ARE HAVING THEIR OWN E MAIL ID THAT TOO IN ACTIVE. WHAT WILL HAPPEN IF WE CREATED E MAIL ID IS CLOSED FOR NOT BEING USED FOR QUITE A LONG TIME. IT AS ADDITIONAL BURDEN TO IT PRACTIONERS
I personally feel that 1 mobile no and e mail id for only 4 assesses needs to be withdrawn immediately.
Firstly, not all assesses are tech savvy and don’t use emails regularly.
Secondly, in most of the cases , probably 95% and above, returns are filed by the professionals like Consultants, CMAs and CA’s,
Thirdly, an additonal overhead of costs and time for both assesses and consultants to give Pin mailers and OTPs
Number Four, The Income Tax department sends various communications like return receipt, intimations u/s 143(1), refund advise, demand notice etc to e mails ids. In most cases, assesses dont read their mails regularly and if they read they simply forward it to the consultants. Many assesses even forward the sms’s of receipt of it return as they panic when they receive anything from it dept. And in many cases if they dont react to notices immediately then they have to feel the burden of additional interests etc.
There are many such reasons which do not favour such a move of IT Department. Of course i understand that there are few issues like passwords being getting locked and communications being not recd by assesses. but such cases are few.
Instead the dept needs to devise some other mechanism.
Even a one time permission from assessee to consultant for overlooking the it returns and other notices can be considered, as it is in online share trading account.
The department may please re-consider this as it will be in the interest on Dept., assesses and consultants.
It is very difficult for tax practioners.Already tax practioners are under huge tension, specially due date time.Senior citizens not able to read sms, and eMiail.
Income Tax Deptt obviously approves the possession of more sim-cards like the underworld operations. Now tax consultants will have to buy innumerable sim cards and create multiple e-mail IDs in order to cater to their clients’ services
The limitation of registering not more than 4 PAN on for Efiling has created lots of problems, specially with regard to the Religious Trusts, as the Officials who are on the administrative committees are mostly Priests, and they are always transferred as per the requirement of the Bishop, so there are practical difficulties, besides to get the mobile pin SMS which is sent to their mobile phone whilst doing registration is itself a difficult to retrieve as you have to make endless calls and then their say they have not received any sms, further due to these problems when the Call Centre is called up in Noida and asked why the earlier option of skip and proceed are not shown, he says complaints have been received of miss using the facility, it just a fallacy, only thos needed to file will do the registration. The old system of registering on one mobile number was good besides the option of skip and proceed instead of using mobile pin. The mobile number of the person whose return is being filed is always entered in the return, so there should no hassles besides a common email is used. If all other issues are perfect why create this cumbersome process, is it for harassment or to create problem for the person who needs to file the returns.
It is very unfortunate that one mobile and one e-mail can be used by four assesses. 95% of returns are filed by professionals and the use their e-mail id and cell no. Assessee on receiving an SMS on their mail get panicky and makes at least 5 calls to his consultant. The SMS would be just a refund intimation. About 80% do not have computers, E-mail id. Those who have e-mail id do not open their mails for many days. Without consultants nothing moves. IT act is so complicated, more so because of corrupt officials, not even an highly educated will understand. 90% of officials do not know the law. How can you expect a common to understand
The IT department must have to think, why they are creating more complications to the assesse and consultants. Now Government policy is to create more user friendly system but IT Department is making it more complicated system. We are fully against the same system.
email id is given for free by various web services.
Cell every tom dick and harry has got, like one can see a street vegetable vendor having these days.
The CA can create an email id in google or yahoo for the client.
They must compulsorily give the details of the email-id and cell number used to the assessee along with his password.
I find, quite a few CAs do not give these details putting into dis-advantage of the assessee that the assessee is not able to access his account thru any other means except thru the concerned CA only. Taking note of this only the ITax Dept must have brought these guidelines. This practice by CA is very unfair and needs to be immediately addressed.
Do income tax department think the same mobile number will be kept valid or the mail id will be active. Whereas if one number or mil accepted it is much secure as it is easy to maintain one id than large no. of numbers
The Income Tax Department does not seem to have considered the ground realities while implementing this provision. While Single Mobile Number for only four assessee may be plausible, single email id for only four assessees is unrealistic. Even in big cities, not all people are tech savvy and many of them dont have a mail address. The ITD should have kept this is mind before implementing the scheme. Also internet penetration in rural areas is also very low and mostly confined to the young generation. This is bound to create additional headache for tax practitioners. For this reason the above scheme should be rolled back at once and the ITD should not press forward on this issue.
There are other ways to allow smooth reseting of passwords which can be considered by the ITD.
I liveinUSA and I file taxes on my govt pension. My US mobile is not a cep tend. By IT port all for. Registration. How am I to chec k. My 26 AS or refund or dues etc. I paid all my taxes during last. 60 years. I find I owe money for some years. No credit was given for my payments. No body in I T responds t o my emails.
Jun 21 , 2014
USA
It’s time professionals (bodies and chambers of commrrce wake up) and DEMAND THE removal of this condition. Every year appx. 25/30 new salaried employees come and go. For this how many new SIM cards I have to take!!!I already took 3 new Sim cards.
I had called helpline 2 times and have send this same issue in feedback. No response on feedback and helpline said it’s rule framed for security. In any house one member may be looking for all returns. Example Male member having returns of self, wife, HUF, Parents etc how he would manage with 1 email id and mobile no. It’s not just email ID, even mobile number restrictions do not make sense. For any changes required, PIN is send to both. What if mobile is not present as only 4 PAN can have same mobile number. Both requirements do not make sense.
Any family handling all Income Tax work wants all emails/sms routed to one Mobile and Email ID. Any important messages send on multiple ID may remain overlooked and not dealt with.
iT IS TRUE THAT IT IS GOOD MOVE BUT AT VERY EARLY STAGE OF INDIAN ASSESSES. PEOPLE ARE NOT HAVING ALL SUCH FACILITIES MORE OVER MORE THAN 90% ASSESSES ARE FILLING THEIR RETURNS THROUGH PROFESSIONALS. ALL ASSESSES ARE NOT COMPUTER/INTERNET FRIENDLY. SO GOVT. SHOULD RE-LOOK INTO THE MATTER. IN THIS CASE GOVT. SHOULD GIVE ALTERNATE ALSO.