The Centre has confirmed that Infosys, the managed service provider (MSP) responsible for operating the Income Tax Department’s e-filing portal, faced financial penalties during FY 2025-26 after technical issues on the platform resulted in an extension of the income tax return (ITR) filing deadline. The disclosure was made by Union Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary in a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha on July 20, 2026.
The minister said the penalty was linked to circumstances where portal-related issues attributable to the service provider forced the government to extend statutory deadlines.
“MSP is liable for penalty if the due date of ITR filing or any other pre-notified date gets extended on account of any reasons attributable to the MSP. Penalty on this count has been imposed upon the MSP in FY 2025-26,” the Union Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary said in a written response to a query in the Lok Sabha on 20 July 2026.
Other Penalties Imposed On Infosys
Apart from the penalty relating to the extension of the ITR filing deadline, the government informed Parliament that Infosys had faced multiple actions over delays and service-related shortcomings under its contract.
Among the key instances highlighted was the delayed rollout of the Integrated e-Filing and Centralised Processing Centre (IEC) 2.0 project. According to the minister, the MSP was subjected to “liquidated damages” after failing to deliver the taxpayer-facing project within the originally scheduled timeline of July 2020.
The government also imposed penalties over a period of 12 quarters after the MSP failed to achieve the prescribed service-level performance benchmarks. These assessments, conducted every quarter, covered operational shortcomings, including prolonged outages and other performance deficiencies.
Additionally, Infosys was penalised during FY 2025-26 for application outages on the income tax e-filing portal during the peak tax filing season.
Why The Government Does Not Expect Another ITR Deadline Extension
Responding to concerns over whether taxpayers could expect another extension of the filing deadline this year, Chaudhary explained that the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) portal handles extremely high traffic, particularly as statutory due dates approach.
He noted that the platform serves crores of taxpayers, with user activity rising significantly in the final days before filing deadlines. “Given the high scale of concurrent access in the peak filing period, some taxpayers may, at times, experience transient technical issues such as slower page response or intermittent delays during periods of peak concurrent load,” Chaudhary said in his written response.
The minister, however, maintained that despite the growing volume of users, the portal has remained largely stable during the current filing season. He added that the government has put in place a comprehensive monitoring system to identify and resolve technical issues quickly.
Measures Taken To Improve Portal Performance
According to the Finance Ministry, the e-filing portal is under continuous surveillance through dedicated daily and hourly dashboards that track key operational parameters. These include taxpayer logins, ITR filings, Annual Information Statement (AIS) access, compliance portal redirections, payment gateway status, error codes and other system indicators.
The government also said every technical issue reported on the portal is escalated and addressed within defined timelines to minimise disruption for taxpayers.
Chaudhary further informed the Lok Sabha that activity on the income tax portal has increased steadily over the years. Data comparing portal usage during July 8-14, 2026 with the corresponding period in 2025 reflects a significant rise in taxpayer activity, highlighting the growing demand placed on the digital infrastructure.
For taxpayers filing returns in the current assessment year, the due dates remain unchanged. ITR-1 and ITR-2 for salaried individuals and those with capital gains are due by July 31, 2026. ITR-3 and ITR-4 for non-audit business cases must be filed by August 31, 2026, while audit cases have a deadline of October 31, 2026. Businesses requiring transfer pricing reports have until November 30, 2026, while belated returns can be filed by December 31, 2026. Revised returns are permitted until March 31, 2027, and updated returns (ITR-U) can be filed until March 31, 2031, subject to applicable provisions.
