Income Tax Department requests updating of Contact Details

The recent change in contact details updation of taxpayers is being taken seriously by the Tax Department. According to new rules, one Email ID or mobile number can be set as primary contact for maximum 10 Efiling accounts/taxpyers.

Those, currently having single Email/mobile number for more than allowed 10 accounts have started receiving emails from Tax Department to update the accounts with actual taxpayers details. 

Below is the mail received from the Department : 

Dear Taxpayer(s),

This email ID has been registered as a primary contact by more than the permitted number of users on the E-filing website of the Income Tax Department. Therefore, taxpayer personal email ID (other than the one presently registered) may be used to update their contact details on the e-Filing portal. Similarly, if the Mobile number registered with e-filing account is also more than the permitted number of users then the Mobile Number should also be updated with taxpayer personal mobile Number.

For details, you can logon to:
https://incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in/eFiling/Portal/StaticPDF/Update_Contact_Details.pdf
Validation of email and mobile numbers has been introduced to facilitate taxpayers as in many cases incorrect emails and mobile numbers have been provided and taxpayers did not receive important communication from the Department. Further, it has been observed that in many cases taxpayers are not able to reset their password since the new temporary password from the Department may be sent to their registered email which may be different from the taxpayer's personal email, e.g. email of their intermediary.
The Department will send separate One Time Passwords (OTP) also referred as PIN on the mobile and email provided by the taxpayer. The OTPs have to be entered by the taxpayer after logging into their e-filing account to authenticate the same. The OTPs will remain valid for 24 hours within which the taxpayer has to complete the process. For 'Foreign/ NRI' taxpayers, the OTP validation of the email ID would be sufficient.
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. Further, this validation will ensure that Department can send an OTP for resetting the password used for Login in case the taxpayer has forgotten the password.
Taxpayer may enter the email of any other person designated by him, in addition, as a Secondary Contact (without any restriction on the number of user accounts linked as a Secondary Contact) to also receive emails, alerts etc.
The Department requests your cooperation for completing this validation process at the earliest for a smooth and convenient return filing process.
List of the user ids which have this common email ID and common Mobile number are attached for reference. User ids are masked for security reasons. The email and mobile number for these user ids may be immediately updated and validated
Regards,
e-Filing Team,
Income Tax Department

Income Tax efiling account Email limit increased to 10

Restriction of 4 mail id and mobile number has been withdrawn.
Now one mail ID and one mobile no. Is allowed for 10 tax payers instead of 4.
What good will it serve the purpose is unknown because still the updation will have to be done for all the taxpayers.
May be all the consultants should either update the client details genuinely taking each and every taxpayers details or for every 10 clients keep same email id and mobile number.

CA student hacks Anil Ambani’s Income-Tax account!!!

 

 A young chartered accountant student from Hyderabad has allegedly hacked into the e-filing of income tax returns account of leading industrialist Anil Ambani, with an intention to know his income and tax amount paid over a period of time, police said on Friday.

The 21-year-old woman, who has been doing her chartered accountancy articleship at Manoj Daga & Company in Hyderabad, was booked under relevant sections of Information Technology Act on September 7, after a preliminary investigation and faces arrest in the case.

“The girl hacked Ambani’s e-filing of Income-Tax returns account with an intention to check the industrialist’s income and tax amount paid by him over the period of time.

After hacking the account of the chairman of Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (ADAG), she accessed the details of his income, tax amount paid, PAN card number and even changed twice the password of his e-account on the IT website,” an official involved in the probe said.

According to police, a chartered accountant firm in Mumbai, which files 54-year-old Ambani’s individual tax details, was intimated through an email from IT department on June 26 that as per request, the industrialist’s e-return account had been changed. Again on July 12, the firm received another email stating that second time the password had been changed.

As suspicion grew, the ADAG group representative complained to Joint Police Commissioner (Crime) Himanshu Roy, who directed cyber cell inspector Mukund Pawar to probe the case.

“As preliminary probe suggested it as a clear case of cyber crime since it involved hacking into the e—return account, a case was registered on September 7. Probe revealed that the account was hacked from Manoj Daga & Company’s computer following which a team rushed there and upon questioning, the girl confessed to have hacked into Ambani’s account,” Mr. Pawar said.

The server has been seized, Mr. Pawar said adding that, “we have all technical and physical evidence against her. The accused, who is in Hyderabad, will have to face the arrest.”

The offence was bailable and she will be arrested soon, another police official said.

Source: http://www.thehindu.com/business/Industry/ca-student-hacks-anil-ambanis-it-account/article5124623.ece