ITD PORTAL observations on recent visit on 5th November, 2021.

[DEV KUMAR KOTHARI]

Presentation of webpages is very poor:

Presentation of webpages is very poor and difficult to work. In old portal webpages were compact and contents were logically and properly organized that made it easy to read, understand and work. However in new portal pages are wide and long, presentation is not logical and compact. Searching / reaching at of required page itself is difficult.

Difficulties in login:

It appears that old pass word which was used in old portal has not been saved and imported into new portal, and message appears for wrong password, although correct password was entered into , viewed to verify and then submitted. This means that old password in old portal is not saved and message is wrongly given for a wrong or mismatch in password. Instead message can be given to create new password so that there is no confusion.

If four attempts are made, then account is locked for four hours.

One has to create new password for login. The process of log in is slow and cumbersome. It can be made easy- by allowing old password that can be continued for future or user can be asked to change or create new password.

Password policy:

Now-a-days people who have online transactions are required to create, remember and use passwords. There can be requirements of password for many organizations and uses.  So it is difficult to have different passwords for all such purposes.

Let user design his own password with uniqueness for his memory. Let user decide about size, contents and life of password. It can continue with the same password for long period of time until it is used by user.

Author experienced some such passwords being used by him for long period without any difficulty and security concern. In fact where some websites of some banks ask to change password from time to time with many conditions like its length, contents and not to use password used earlier, capital and small letter some numbers and some special characters, make it difficult to create, remember and use the password.

 In such cases there is no way out except to note down password at some place. Such noted down passwords (may be in a diary, book or word document / excel document etc.) itself create security concerns.

For example in some bank accounts same password is being used for long period of time without difficulty because a change is not required by bank. However, in case of some banks there is need to change password frequently with many specialized conditions. This really create operational difficulties.

Guidance can be provided for strong password for minimum length, and contents. Requirement of using at least one capital letter, one small letter and some type of special characters make the process of creation and use of password time consuming and cumbersome. This is because key board need to be adjusted for capital letter, small letter some special characters. The process becomes more difficult when there is no option to view password written.

Therefore, password policy can be left at discretion of user for its length and contents both.

Demat accounts:

It was expected that various Demat accounts with  depositories like NSDL and CSDL opened and maintained  through various   depository participants shall be shown on IT Portal because demat accounts are KYC compliant and PAN is provided in details.  However, after log in it was found that any demat account is not appearing and assesse is required to add demat accounts. In a case where there are active, inactive and closed demat account for last long period of more than 5 years, it was expected that details will be available in system, however there was no information available for any type of account. The portal displayed:

Added Demat Accounts(0)

Failed Demat Accounts(0)

Removed Demat Accounts(0)

Bank accounts:

Some details were found in portal that included some account which were closed long ago, and some are active. Details of some accounts in operation for considerable time were not found. One account was shown twice so it was to be deleted. Process of deleting accounts is found smooth. Author did not use link/  facility for adding new account so cannot comment about it.

Online ITR data entry and saving of draft:

It is very slow to enter and save data. Even while using high speed WIFI net connection we are facing slow process causing excessive time for entering and saving data.

 There is difficulty to understand whether information entered has been saved or not, even after specific saving process, it was found that old data continued and new data could not be replaced. In fact there can be several attempts required to enter details and save them.

Unlisted shares:

Most of details required are mandatory – indicated by red star * and many of them are very difficult to find out for example PAN of company,  date and cost of acquisition- particularly when these are lengthy and numerous and holdings are very old purchases ,  inheritances and acquisitions by way of corporate actions.

Many companies which were listed have been suspended and are not reporting, it is difficult to find out whether the company is listed or not. For example author observed  from annual report of some companies those are listed on Calcutta Stock exchange (CSE), paying regularly fees of CSE but there is no trading. In fact CSE itself is suspended. In such case whether share can be called listed share?

Or is to be treated and unlisted?

Similarly thousands of companies which are listed on BSE are suspended for various reasons. Whether such companies are listed or unlisted for purpose of information to be provided in ITR.

In cases of small investors and small amounts say up to Rs. One crore in total and Rs. ten lakh in any company should be exempted from disclosure requirements.

Logically and in purpose seeking manner in fact requirements should only be in case of controlled or managed company by assesse with his associates.

The requirement should only be in event of sale, there is no purpose for collecting details of opening balances in quantity and value, acquisition, sale and closing balance.

A boring experience:

In overall author found that it is really very boring and unproductive experience on visit of my account and other websites and work on IT Portal. The presentation is difficult to understand and work.