The internet service providers have been asked by the Income Tax Department to take prompt action on e-filing of income tax return which is facing severe connectivity issues.

Since the deadline for online filing of ITR is nearing, online tax filing portal is witnessing a huge traffic during the peak hours of the day. In some places there is no connectivity at all. The Income Tax Department has set 31 July as the last date of filing ITR.

Taking cognisance of the matter the I-T Department has asked the regional computer centres to carry out a test for the availability of the site.

The centres have been asked to check the availability of DNS and trace connectivity from local computer to the web-hosting site.

The I-T department has also asked the centres to ascertain the average time needed to download the e-filing page.

Meanwhile the internet providers have been told to increase the bandwidth and carry out changes in the routing limit and firewall filter.

The internet providers have also been advised to follow the 2013 guidelines. As per the guidelines, all the internet service providers must take care of the connectivity ten days prior to three peak times-- July 31, September 30 and March 31 of every financial year.

It may be recalled that the CBDT had recently launched a new online 'tax calculator' for computing annual I-T liability which can now be emailed to personal inboxes of taxpayers before returns are filed by the end of this month.

The 'tax calculator' is a computer based programme hosted on the web-based platform of the I-T department and is meant for the aid of the taxpayer before they file their final Income Tax Return (ITR).

The 'calculator' is updated every fiscal after budget and is calibrated by the Central Board of Direct Taxes according to the new announcements made by the Finance Minister in respect of tax rates.