As the July 31 income tax return (ITR) filing deadline draws closer, many taxpayers have once again complained about slow logins and delayed responses on the Income Tax Department's e-filing portal. With lakhs of people rushing to file their returns before the deadline, the government has now explained what it is doing to keep the system running smoothly.

In a written reply in Parliament, the government said that while some users may experience occasional delays during periods of heavy traffic, the portal has remained largely stable despite a significant increase in the number of taxpayers using it this year.

ITR FILINGS AND LOGINS HAVE SURGED

Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary informed Parliament that activity on the e-filing portal has risen sharply during the current filing season.

Between July 8 and July 14, daily ITR filings more than doubled compared to the same period last year on several days. On July 14 alone, taxpayers filed around 12.22 lakh income tax returns, while the portal recorded nearly 99 lakh logins in a single day, reported The Economic Times.

The government said the increase reflects both higher compliance and the growing number of taxpayers using the online filing system.

PORTAL UPGRADED TO HANDLE PEAK TRAFFIC

To prevent disruptions during the busiest period of the filing season, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has strengthened the e-filing portal's infrastructure.

According to the government, the portal has been performance-tested and can now process up to one crore income tax returns in a single day.

The CBDT has also increased computing capacity, storage, memory, network bandwidth and overall system resources to ensure smoother performance during peak traffic.

WHAT CHANGES HAS THE CBDT MADE?

The Minister told Parliament that several measures have been introduced to improve the portal's reliability and user experience.

These measures include upgrading the portal to support significantly higher filing volumes, increasing computing power, storage, memory and network capacity, and fixing major technical issues that affected taxpayers during previous filing seasons.

The CBDT has also introduced round-the-clock infrastructure monitoring along with a dedicated War Room to quickly detect and resolve technical problems.

In addition, cybersecurity has been strengthened through updated firewalls, improved protection against cyber and bot attacks, and closer monitoring during peak filing periods. The government said it has also worked closely with organisations such as UIDAI, RBI, banks, CDSL, NSDL, ICAI and e-return intermediaries to ensure uninterrupted services throughout the filing season.

SERVICE PROVIDER PENALISED OVER PORTAL ISSUES

The Minister also informed Parliament that the managed service provider (MSP) responsible for developing and maintaining the Income Tax Department's e-filing portal has faced financial penalties under its contract.

According to the government, penalties were imposed for delays in delivering the Income Tax Business Application (IEC 2.0) project, failing to meet agreed service-level standards across multiple assessment periods, application outages during the FY2025-26 peak filing season, and situations where ITR filing deadlines had to be extended because of issues attributable to the service provider.

SHOULD TAXPAYERS STILL WAIT UNTIL THE LAST MINUTE?

Although the government says the portal is now equipped to handle much heavier traffic than before, experts continue to advise taxpayers against waiting until the final few days to file their returns.

Filing early not only helps avoid last-minute technical glitches but also leaves enough time to correct errors, respond to notices, if any, and receive refunds sooner.

With just days left before the July 31 deadline, taxpayers who have not yet filed their returns may find it safer to complete the process well before the final rush begins.

- Ends

Published By:

Jasmine anand

Published On:

Jul 21, 2026 16:18 IST