eNivaran Online Facility : Income Tax Dept’s new Grievance Redressal System

Income Tax and income tax filing is still considered as ‘rocket science’ by many of us. But of late the tax department is doing a wonderful job to make tax payers’ life easy. The IT department has launched many online initiatives in the last couple of years.

But one thing that has been missing is, a robust grievance redressal mechanism. If we have a tax related grievance then there is no comprehensive system with the IT dept, to receive,  to track or to speed up the complaint resolution process.

If we have PAN related issues we have to contact NSDL or UTI, if we submit complaints at ASK centers (Aaykar Sampark Kendra) then there is no provision to track the status of our complaints and we need to make multiple visits to the IT dept offices, if we have any issues related to say Income Tax Refund or online IT filing then there is no online facility to submit & track such issues, also the IT department is not equipped with transferring of complaints across the various sub-departments online…and so on

Often it is also been reported that the call centre support is not up to the mark and we need to dial multiple help-line numbers to get the resolution.

Good news, the Income Tax department has recently launched a special electronic grievance redressal system called eNivaran in order to fast track income taxpayers’ grievances and ensure early resolution of the complaints.

In this post, let us understand – What is eNivaran online facility? How to access eNivaran system on IT e-filing portal? What are the grievances or complaints that can be submitted through eNivaran application form?

What is eNivaran?

eNivaran is a dedicated window for grievance redressal. This unified grievance management system integrates all online and offline (physical) complaints received by the IT department. These complaints will then be monitored by the income tax officers (Assessing officer  / Supervisory Officers) to make sure that the complaints are resolved at the earliest.

Through this online portal the complaints can also be transferred to the concerned sub-department. For example – if you submit a grievance related to income tax return filing, and while resolving your issue if the tax officer has to get more inputs on say your TDS details then he/she can transfer your complaint to the concerned department and get the details, so that your complaint can be resolved quickly.

As of now, a tax payer can submit grievances at;

• ASK (Aaykar Sampark Kendra) : Offline complaints are received at ASK centers and are captured on ITBA (Income Tax Business Application).
• CPC ITR (Central Processing Centre) : This centre takes care of accepting income tax returns, processing of ITRs and any grievances related to ITRs.
• CPC TDS : This centre handles all TDS related complaints and issues.
• E-Filing Portal : The tax payer can submit grievances related to Login, registration, verification of Returns, Password etc related issues.
• PAN related issues are handled by NSDL & UTIITSL.

Now, with the launch of eNivaran all these modules will be integrated. The new system can be used by the IT department’s staff to record, search, view, transfer, seek information from grievance filer, and resolve the complaints online.

Your grievances from PAN card problems to Income Tax returns, tax refunds, TDS issues, delay in refunds, tax return scrutiny issues, tax notices etc. can all be resolved with E-Nivaran facility.

How to access eNivaran online?

Below is the procedure to access and submit eNivaran online form;

• Kindly visit income tax e-filing portal.
• Click on ‘Registered User’ if you have login credentials, else click on ‘Register Yourself’ option.
• Once you Login to the e-filing portal, you can find e-Nivaran option on the top navigation menu bar.
• Click on e-Nivaran menu option to submit, track status or view previously submitted grievances.
• After submitting your Grievance, an acknowledgement number is generated based on which you can track its status.

Types of Grievances or complaints that can be submitted through eNivaran online Form

Below is the category of  grievances that you can submit and seek resolution;

• You can submit your complaints or queries to AO (assessing officer) on the matters related to;
  • ITR processing not completed
  • Income Tax Refund not received
  • Rectification Return pending with AO
  • Incorrect Outstanding tax demand
• You can route your queries on Income Tax Returns to CPC – ITR – Bangalore on the below matters;
  • ITR – V (not received, rejected, previous ITRs etc.,)
  • Processing of ITR
  • Refund
  • Rectification of ITR
  • Matters related of Defective returns u/s 139 (9)
  • Request for Intimation orders
  • Income Tax demand and notices u/s 143 (1) etc., (Read : ‘How to pay outstanding Income Tax demand u/s 143 online?’)
• You can submit your complaints or queries to CPC TDS on the matters related to;
  • TDS Statements
  • KYC
  • Form 16 & Form 16A (Read : ‘What is Form 16 / Form 16A / Form 26AS‘)
  • Form 26 AS (TDS details not reflected in Form 26AS)
  • TDS on Sale of Property (Form 26QB related)
  • Correction of details related to Challan / BIN (Book Identification Number) etc.,
• If you have below queries or complaints related to e-Filing portal, you can seek resolution;
  • Registration on e-filing portal
  • Profile changes
  • Filing of Income Tax Returns or Forms
  • Verification of Income Tax Returns & EVC  (Read : ‘How to e-verify your Income Tax Return?‘)
  • OTP, PIN, Login & Password related issues.
• You can route your complaints to Refund banker on the matters related to;
  • Refund credited in wrong bank account
  • Refund paid or issued by the IT department but not credited in your account.
  • Misuse of your Login Id & Password
  • Payment of Refund to the legal heir of the deceased
  • Refund amount discrepancy
• For PAN related matters like below can be submitted to NSDL or UTIITSL;
  • PAN application
  • Allotment of same PAN to multiple persons or entities
  • Delivery of PAN card
  • Wrong details in PAN card etc.,

Kindly note that matters related to RTI, Court judgements, general suggestions & grievances against foreign Government will not be considered as grievances.

Kindly note that your Personal details are pre-filled (auto populated) in e-Nivaran online form. So, you need to ensure that they are correct before your submit the grievance. (You can update your personal details by visiting ‘profile settings’ -> ‘My profile’ option).

It is believed that the Income Tax department is one of the 20 government organisations’ against whom maximum grievances are received on the Centre’s online public grievances resolution portal called the Centralized Public Grievance Redress and Monitoring System (CPGRAMS).

Let’s hope that eNivaran ensures fast tracking and early resolution of tax payers’ grievances.

(Image courtesy of Stuart Miles at FreeDigitalPhotos.net) (Post published on : 01-September-2016)