Practical solution / loophole to restricted use of 4 Efiling accounts for same Email ID

In our earlier update, we had mentioned as to how it is an headache for tax professionals / tax consultants to maintain email ID and passwords for all the taxpayers since they have to be updated individually and no tax consultant can keep his own email id as that of his client for more than 4 clients.

However, our smart CA fraternity friends seem to have found a solution to this which luckily is not yet blocked by the Income tax Department.

This trick works bascially for gmail users since, the Gmail does not recognise difference between regular alphabets of the User Name and and dots put between alphabets of the User Name. That is because Gmail ignores any dots in the User name.

That means for Gmail nirajdmahajan is similar to n.irajdmahajan. For Gmail, all combinations of ni.rajdmahajan, nir.ajdmahajan, niraj.dmahajan, n.i.r.a.j.d.m.a.h.a.j.a.n, etc. are same. However, Efiling website recognises each of the above Emails as SEPARATE emails!!

Thus, you can make number of such combinations using your Gmail User name. The number of combinations possible can be multiplied by 4, since maximum 4 accounts are allowed to have same Email address!!

A major time-saver seems to have been found out.
Thus, prima-facie it seems, a major hurdle has been avoided using this loophole. Just today I tried to use the proper method of using Client's email ID and mobile and believe it is not an easy task! Because to update the email and mobile number, you have to do both of it in one login session which lasts for only few minutes. And if the client is bit late in sending you the PINs received in his Email and SMS, you have to repeat the process of updation!!

Thus, the solution to efiling restriction is currently found out and can be used till Income tax Department puts any restriction on that too!!

Till then, happy Returns season!!

It will be unfair not to mention CA Tejas Andharia who has found out this solution for the benefit of all!

CA Niraj Mahajan

Efiling portal limits one Email ID to 4 accounts !! Headache for tax professionals

Security has always been an issue with tax Department with cases like exactly duplicate webiste of Income Tax being created by fraudsters or hacking of Efiling account of Anil Ambani or crickets or Bollywood stars.

In response to security issues and making the Efiling portal theft-free, it has come up with new feature of updating the Efiling account details of the taxpayer. 

It is a boon for the taxpayer, since it was a pain to retrieve passwords set by old tax professional while handing over the file to new tax consultant.

Generally, the tax professionals would keep the passwords and emails same for all his clients to avoid wastage of time. However, with the new security feature, it would be trouble to update the emails and mobile numbers of the clients. 

With only one month to go for July end due date of tax returns, it is highly advisable to initiate the work a bit in advance to avoid last minute hassles.

BELOW IS THE UPDATE PROVIDED BY INCOME TAX DEPARTMENT REGARDING EFILING PORTAL :

Important announcement for Tax payers for updating contact details in e-Filing Portal

Dear Tax Payers,

Income-Tax Department uses the registered contact details (Mobile number & E-mail ID) for all communications related to e-Filing. It is mandatory that all tax payers must have a valid contact details registered in e-Filing portal.

It is noticed that many registered users are not having authenticated contact details in e-Filing or may have provided details of other persons for convenience. This prevents the Department from interacting directly with taxpayers on their personal email and Mobile.

Further, it has been observed that in many cases taxpayers are not able to reset their password since the email communication from the Department may be sent to their registered email or Mobile which may be different from the taxpayer’s personal email or mobile.

Hence, it is requested that all the e-Filing users may immediately update and authenticate their correct contact details so that the communication can be sent to the valid Mobile number and E-mail ID.

The process of updating and authenticating the contact details are below.

New User	Provide the correct Mobile Number and Email ID during the Registration in the e-Filing portal, Activation link would be sent to the registered E-mail ID and a One Time Password (OTP also called PIN) is sent to the registered Mobile Number. User needs to Click on the Link provided in the E-mail and enter the OTP received in the mobile number for Successful activation of the registered user in e-Filing portal
Registered User	After the user logs in to the e-filing account, there will be a pop-up requesting the user to update the current Mobile number and E-mail ID. The user should update their personal Mobile number and Email so that the updated contact particulars are registered with the Department or confirm that the Mobile number and email ID already registered is their valid personal contacts. Upon submitting the details, Department would immediately send OTPs (PIN1 & PIN2) to new mobile number and Email ID. The respective PINs- PIN1 and PIN2 received through Mobile number and E-mail ID should be entered by them in the respective input fields to authenticate that the email ID and mobile are correct. Upon successful validation the Mobile number and email ID would be updated in the taxpayer’s profile and the process would be complete. The PIN1 and PIN2 would be valid only for the session – so taxpayers are advised not to close the webpage till PINs are entered and validated. In case of any difficulty or delay, the taxpayer can log in again and follow the same process to update the current contact details.
Note:	Taxpayers are advised to follow the process mentioned above in the interest of the security of their e-filing account and to directly receive communication from the Department about status of processing and issue of refunds etc. This is a one-time process to validate the mobile number and email ID. However, whenever the taxpayer changes the Mobile Number or email ID in their Profile, the process will be repeated to ensure that the particulars provided are correct. 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. The taxpayer can enter any other person’s email or mobile number in addition as a Secondary Contact (without any restriction on the number of user accounts linked as a Secondary Contact). Using “Profile Settings _ My Profile” the taxpayer can select to include the Secondary Contact to also receive emails, alerts etc. Include the emails and SMS from the Income tax Department in the ‘safe list’ or ‘white list’ to prevent the communications from the Department from being blocked or rejected or sent to Spam folder. As a best practice, please update and authenticate the current contact and address details under “Profile Settings _ My Profile” after login to eFiling portal.

CA Student hacks efiling account again!!

CA student hacks tax returns of Shah Rukh, Salman, Sachin Tendulkar, MS Dhoni

Mumbai Police's crime branch on Thursday stumbled upon a Chartered Accountancy (CA) student, who hacked into I-T returns of industrialist Anil Ambani, Bollywood actors Shah Rukh Khan and Salman Khan and cricketers Sachin Tendulkar and MS Dhoni.
Earlier this month, a Hyderabad-based chartered accountant had hacked into Anil Ambani's e-filing of income-tax return account.
With the two cases of illegal access of I-T returns of eminent personalities by CA students, the accounting regulator, ICAI, has said that it will take strict action against the students and cancel their articleship if found guilty.
"We have already set up an enquiry against the CA student who hacked into Anil Ambani's tax returns. As regard the hacking of Bollywood actors and cricketers, we will set up an enquiry by tomorrow against the student," Subodh Aggarwal, president, the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) told The Indian Express.
He said that a newsletter will be issued to make students aware of the consequences and desist them from indulging in such activities.
If found guilty, the articleship of the students would be cancelled, following which they would not be able to pursue their chartered accountancy course.
"This also shows that the government system is so vulnerable. We will take it up with the government," Aggarwal added.
The Mumbai Police, which is probing the alleged hacking by the Hyderabad-based student , said that while probing they found that Ambani's account was also fraudulently accessed from Noida.
This investigation led them to Vishal Kaushal Company, an accountancy firm in Noida, from where another CA student Sanchit Katiyal had hacked into Ambani's account. Katiyal, who is undergoing his articleship, was booked by the cyber crime cell on September 16, and his computer and hard disks were seized.
Katiyal had hacked the accounts out of curiosity, the Mumbai Police said.

Source: The Indian Express dated 27.09.2013