As the July 31 deadline for filing Income Tax Returns (ITRs) approaches, millions of taxpayers are logging into the Income Tax e-Filing portal.
To handle the heavy rush, the government says it has upgraded the portal with better infrastructure and improved monitoring to ensure a smoother filing experience.
The Finance Ministry shared these details in Parliament after concerns were raised about login failures, technical glitches, and slow portal performance during the peak tax filing season.
Why Did the Government Upgrade the Portal?
During a discussion in the Lok Sabha, MP Shri Shyamkumar Daulat Barve highlighted recurring issues such as website crashes, slow processing, and login problems that many taxpayers have faced while filing their returns.
Responding to these concerns, Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary said the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has introduced several technical and structural improvements to strengthen the e-Filing portal.
According to the ministry, while users may occasionally experience temporary delays during peak hours due to heavy traffic, the portal has remained largely stable throughout the filing season.
Tax Filing Traffic Has Increased Sharply
The number of taxpayers filing returns this year has increased significantly compared to last year.
Some key figures shared by the Finance Ministry include:
8 July 2026: Over 8.38 lakh ITRs filed, compared to 4.26 lakh on the same day in 2025.
10 July 2026: More than 10.41 lakh returns filed.
11 July 2026: Around 10.87 lakh returns filed.
14 July 2026: A record 12.21 lakh ITRs filed in a single day.
On 14 July, the portal handled over 1.61 crore transactions, showing a major increase in taxpayer activity compared to last year.
Major Changes Made to the Income Tax Portal
To handle the increased traffic, CBDT has introduced several important upgrades.
Higher Return Processing Capacity
The portal has been upgraded to process up to 1 crore Income Tax Returns in a single day, reducing the chances of slowdowns during peak filing periods.
Better Infrastructure
The government has increased the portal’s:
Computing power
Storage capacity
Memory
Network infrastructure
Internet bandwidth
These improvements are designed to keep the website running smoothly even when millions of users access it simultaneously.
24×7 Monitoring
CBDT has also set up a dedicated 24×7 monitoring system along with a central War Room.
Officials continuously monitor:
User logins
ITR filings
Payment gateway performance
AIS and Compliance Portal access
Technical errors
Any issues reported are identified and resolved as quickly as possible.
Stronger Cybersecurity
The Income Tax Department has upgraded its firewalls and security systems to protect the portal from cyberattacks and automated bot traffic, which usually increases during the tax filing season.
Better Coordination With Other Agencies
CBDT has also improved coordination with several government and financial institutions, including:
UIDAI
RBI
Banks
NSDL
CDSL
ICAI
e-Return Intermediaries
This is expected to make services such as PAN verification, Aadhaar authentication, bank validation, and online payments faster and more reliable.
Government Imposed Penalties on Infosys
The Finance Ministry also revealed that Infosys, the Managed Service Provider (MSP) responsible for the Income Tax e-Filing portal, has faced contractual penalties for delays and performance issues.
According to the government:
Infosys failed to deliver the IEC 2.0 project within the original deadline.
Penalties were imposed for delays in project implementation.
The company was penalised for 12 consecutive quarters for not meeting required service performance standards.
Additional penalties were imposed after portal outages during the FY 2025-26 tax filing season.
The government also imposed penalties when technical issues led to the extension of ITR filing deadlines.
Portal Remains Stable Despite Heavy Traffic
The Finance Ministry said the upgraded system has been able to handle this year’s sharp increase in traffic without any major disruptions.
While temporary delays may still occur during peak hours, the government says the portal is continuously monitored and technical issues are being resolved quickly to ensure taxpayers can file their returns before the July 31, 2026 deadline.
