Users continue to face difficulties, working to streamline I-T portal experience, says Infosys

New Delhi: IT major Infosys on Thursday acknowledged that some users continue to experience difficulties in accessing the income tax portal and assured that it is working expeditiously, in collaboration with the Income Tax Department, to further streamline end-user experience.

The Bengaluru-based company, which has drawn flak for glitches continuing months after the launch of the portal in June, said it has seen steady increase in usage over the last few weeks, and more than three crore taxpayers have logged into the portal and successfully completed various transactions.

"Even as the portal makes sustained progress with crores of taxpayers successfully performing transactions, the company acknowledges the difficulties some users continue to experience and is working expeditiously, in collaboration with the I-T Department, to further streamline end-user experience," Infosys said in a statement. It added that over the last few weeks, the portal has seen steady increase in usage with "taxpayers' concerns being progressively addressed".

So far, over three crore taxpayers have logged into the portal and successfully completed various transactions, it noted.

Infosys said it "recognises" the ongoing challenges faced by some users and has engaged with more than 1,200 taxpayers directly to better understand their concerns. "The company is focused on rapidly resolving these challenges while working closely with the chartered accountant community to ensure that a comprehensive set of user scenarios are supported and thoroughly tested before deployment. Infosys remains committed to making rapid progress and has currently dedicated more than 750 resources to this project to complete significant portions of work, in collaboration with officials from the I-T Department," it added.

It further stated that "Infosys takes pride in partnering with the Government of India and continues to work closely with various departments to accelerate the digital evolution of the country's technology capabilities". Infosys was, in 2019, awarded a contract to develop the next-generation income tax filing system to reduce processing time for returns from 63 days to one day and expedite refunds. The portal went live in June this year. It had a bumpy start since the day of its launch, with taxpayers and professionals reporting glitches and difficulties in its functioning and many of these issues have continued even after over three months of the portal's launch.