New Delhi: With the July 31 income tax return filing deadline drawing closer, the Central Board of Direct Taxes has upgraded the e-filing portal to manage a sharp rise in traffic. The changes aim to help taxpayers file returns for Assessment Year 2026-27 without major disruption.
Parliament Reply
Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary told the Lok Sabha on July 21 that the portal’s infrastructure and operational preparedness had been strengthened after reviewing problems faced in earlier filing seasons.
The government acknowledged that users may occasionally face slower response times during peak traffic. However, it said the portal had remained largely stable despite a significant increase in usage.
Higher Capacity
The e-filing system has been tested and validated to process up to 1 crore ITRs in a single day, well above current daily filing levels.
CBDT has increased computing power, storage, memory, network capacity and internet bandwidth. Major infrastructure weaknesses that affected previous filing seasons have also been addressed.
Round-The-Clock Monitoring
A dedicated 24x7 monitoring system, supported by a central “War Room”, is tracking the portal’s performance and responding to technical problems.
Cybersecurity has also been strengthened through upgraded firewalls, better protection against bots and cyberattacks, and improved coordination among agencies.
CBDT is working with UIDAI, RBI, banks, CDSL, NSDL, ICAI and e-Return Intermediaries to maintain uninterrupted services during the busy filing period.
Traffic Surges
Daily filings more than doubled year-on-year on several days between July 8 and July 14. On July 14, 12.22 lakh returns were filed, while logins approached 99 lakh.
Total transactions, including filings, logins, challan payments and Form 26AS services, reached about 1.61 crore that day.
Provider Penalised
The government said the portal’s managed service provider had been penalised for project delays, weak service levels, outages during FY2025-26 and deadline extensions linked to its performance.
The reply did not name the provider. Infosys is the technology partner responsible for developing and managing the portal across the country.
