Taxpayers filing their income tax (I-T) returns this year will now have to share their email-ids and mobile phone numbers with the tax department.

The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), the administrative authority of the Income Tax Department, has introduced a new column in the I-T return forms, asking for the tax filers' personal email-id and mobile number. For those filing returns online, it will have to be registered on the website.

Till now, the taxpayers had to mention similar details of their chartered accountants (CAs) or tax filing helpers in the existing column asking for personal details of the filer.

In case, a taxpayer changes his CA or is not in touch with him, it was found, any communication made by the I-T to the taxpayer used to languish without reaching the desired person.

The department, which is facing issues of pending refunds and ensuring other tax related information to the taxpayer, has designed the new I-T forms so that in case of emergency, a tax officer could directly get in touch with the individual tax filer. The new measures have been implemented both for e-filers and manual filers of I-T returns.

The department will send separate One Time Passwords (OTPs), 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.

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, 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, for instance email of their intermediary.

Mandatory for all

* The new measures have been implemented both for e-filers and manual filers of income tax returns

* Till now, taxpayers had to mention similar details of their chartered accountants or tax filing helpers in forms