New ITR E-filing Portal 3.0 going to be launched soon; Tax Dept seeking Public Suggestions

The e-filing ITR portal for income tax is scheduled to be revamped with ‘substantial’ changes that would make it more user-friendly.

According to sources, an internal circular from the tax department, dated October 8, 2024, stated, “The operations phase of the existing Integrated e-filing and Centralised Processing Centre (IEC) 2.0 is coming to an end and the process of bringing in a new Project, Project IEC 3.0 (that shall replace the existing Project IEC 2.0) has already been initiated.”

How New E-filing ITR Portal IEC 3.0 will help Taxpayers?

According to the internal circular noted earlier, the tax department has indicated that the IEC project provides an e-filing platform that allows taxpayers to electronically file their ITRs, submit statutory forms, and use a variety of other services. The Centralised Processing Centre (CPC) is an important component of the IEC project because it processes ITRs filed through the e-filing portal and ITBA.

“Furthermore to the above, the IEC provides a Back-Office (BO) portal, which is used by field officers to access taxpayer filing and processing data,” according to an internal circular from the Income Tax Department.

“Project IEC 3.0 is envisaged to provide not only a continuity of the services rendered by Project IEC 2.0 but also to put in place a considerably improved system to ensure a secure and user-friendly environment,” according to the tax department’s internal circular.

Public Suggestions Before Launching the New ITR E-filing 3.0 Portal

The income tax department stated in the aforementioned internal circular that Project IEC 3.0 will have a far-reaching impact on the department’s operations as well as on taxpayers and the general public in the coming years. As a result, the tax department must ask for suggestions and feedback from ITR portal users and other stakeholders in order to make the IEC 3.0 project more user-friendly for taxpayers.

“It is considered desirable to conduct wide consultations with the various Project IEC users/ stakeholders to gather their opinion/ views/ suggestions in respect of the good features/deficiencies of the existing Project IEC 2.0 as well as the actual improvements that may be made in IEC 3.0,” according to the tax department’s internal circular.

The income tax department has stated that a committee led by an officer, not below the rank of CIT should be formed within a week after the directive dated October 8, 2024. This committee will be in charge of gathering feedback, ideas, and suggestions from department officers, tax professionals, taxpayers, and other stakeholders in their particular regions. The Income Tax Department has requested that this committee’s responses be emailed by November 30, 2024.