The income tax department has relaxed the 'compulsory/forcible' updation of tax payer details on its return filing website. When this new requirement was introduced on September 22, a tax payer was unable to log in to their e-filing account without first giving and verifying all contact, profile and bank account details. Now the income tax department has removed this compulsory 'forcible' updation method. Instead, a tax payer is able to log into his/her e-filing account, and a page for updation of these details automatically opens. However, now there is an option to 'Skip' giving these details and go on to use the other facilities in your account.

On September 22, 2017, the income tax department has asked new as well as existing tax payers to update their profiles by logging into the e-filing website in order to facilitate effective communication between the department and tax payers.

Abhishek Soni, CEO, Tax2Win.in says, "Once the advisory came into effect, many tax payers were not able to login into their account unless they gave the required details to the department." Tax2Win is an online tax return filing and advisory firm.

Archit Gupta, CEO, ClearTax says, "On 22 September, 2017, many tax payers reached out to us saying they were unable to login to their accounts without the required details."

The advisory issued on September 22 said, "New Registration process to facilitate effective communication between the tax payer and department is enabled. The existing e-filing users are required to update their profile by logging into e-filing account. Users who have registered already and not activated has to register again. "