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

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.