On-line filing of tax returns suspended following security certificate lapse

Tax payers will not be able to file their tax returns electronically for the current assessment year 2010-2011 as the government has suspended the facility due to an inability to get the renewal for the security certificate of its e-filing portal.

The security certificate for the income tax department's e-filing portal lapsed on 8 May this year and the facility that allows the tax payers to file tax returns from anywhere using a computer, had to be suspended as the security facilities could not be fully set up.

According to the Central Board of Direct Taxes' (CBDT) statement, ''Pending completion of certification procedure, the e-filing facility for AY 2010-11 has been temporarily suspended.'' The statement added that the facility would be available soon after renewal of the security certificate.

The statement said the suspension would not affect taxpayers in any way as the earliest income tax return for assessment year 2010-11 was to fall due on 31 July.

Meanwhile, the CBDT also assured that the e-filing portals of the Income Tax department were fully secure and the lapse could not be construed to mean that security features had been in any way compromised.

A security certificate guarantees a website 's authenticity and that all transactions on the site were encrypted and therefore secure. Although this is not a mandatory requirement for all websites to obtain, it is a general practice with most banking portals and e-commerce sites to obtain such certificates.