A valid Email ID and Mobile Number has to be
registered/ updated on the e-filing website of the Income Tax Department so
that direct communication with taxpayer can be possible.
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.
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.
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.
One mobile number or email ID can be used
for a maximum of 10 user accounts as the Primary Contact- Mobile Number and
Email ID in e-Filing. This is to ensure that family members and
related business concerns (not exceeding 10 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.
It is advised that the emails and SMS from the
Income tax Department may be included in the ‘safe list’ or ‘white list’ to
prevent the communications from the Department from being blocked or rejected
or sent to Spam folder. Taxpayers are also advised not to share their user-id
and password of their e-filing account with others to prevent un-authorized
access.Taxpayers can reset their password using the ‘Forgot Password?’ link
while logging in to their e-filing account and by providing the necessary
details.
The Department requests the cooperation of all
taxpayers for completing this validation process at the earliest for a smooth
and convenient return filing process.
(Rekha Shukla)
Commissioner of Income Tax
(Media & Technical Policy)
Official Spokesperson, CBDT - 04th July, 2014
Commissioner of Income Tax
(Media & Technical Policy)
Official Spokesperson, CBDT - 04th July, 2014