The E-Sahyog Project

Among the various endeavours that the government has taken to initiate e-enabling services, here is a step for minimising the efforts of the taxpayers  the “E-Sahyog project”.

What is E-Sahyog Project and How does it Work?

E-sahyog is a Project to provide an online mechanism to resolve mismatches in Income-tax return without requiring taxpayers to visit the Income-tax office. Under this initiative, the Department will provide an end to end e-service using SMS, e-mail etc., to inform the taxpayers about the mismatch.

The old process of return processing was carried out by the Income-tax department in the following way:-

First, the Income-tax department used to receive the return filed by taxpayers, after that it processed the same and got it reconciled with the details shown by third parties in their TDS returns, Service-tax returns, Vat returns, Income-tax returns, etc filed by them. In case any mismatch was found, the Income-tax department would select the cases for scrutiny. The concerned taxpayers would meet the Income-tax authorities and submit the required documents. 

This process was very cumbersome and time consuming with excessive need for documentation and storage. Also it was not cost effective for the Income-tax department or the taxpayer. In order to reduce cost, time and efforts; Income-tax department has launched the e-Sahyog project to provide an online correction mechanism. The taxpayer is now required to login to the e-filing portal, view the mismatch information and submit an online response. The response of the taxpayers will be processed, if the department finds it satisfactory, the issue will be closed. Otherwise the Department may further ask for some documents or information as the case may be.

How to view information and submit online response?

Steps to view information and submit an online response:

1. Login to www.incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in and click on “My Pending Actions”,
2. You will see “E-Sahyog” link, click on the same,
3. When you click on “E-Sahyog”, the link will look as follows:
4. Before clicking on “Response”, read the following note carefully:
5. Now click on “Response” to open “Return Mismatch Response”,The mismatch related information (relevant value in the ITR and third party information) will be displayed in “Return Mismatch Response”. If one needs more information on the mismatch or clarification, he can send query to esahyog@incometax.gov.in.
6. The responses submitted online by the taxpayers will be processed and if the response and other information are found satisfactory, the issue will be closed. The taxpayer can check the updated status by logging in to the e-filing portal.

Failure to submit ‘online response to mismatch’, notice may result getting notice for scrutiny assessment from the Income-tax department.

Benefits of E-Sahyog Project

This step taken by the department will surely reduce the burden of the taxpayers to a great extent, apart from saving cost and time. It is a move taken by the Income-tax department in accordance with the Digital India Initiative, that aims at the growth of online infrastructure of the government bodies and government services. Also, it will lower the fear of people of receiving notices from Income Tax department!