ISSUE #1 WHY IS THE INCOME TAX E-FILING SOFTWARE SO %$#&* BADLY MANAGED??Bostors only Brobose
Adminullahs Disbose!
Note my question carefully. I have hajaar-hajaar saal experience onlee on filing tax returns from different corners of the dunia, and have watched with growing admiration as every year the Income Tax Portal improved its system. It used to be a paper system, then a very long and convoluted form that could be opened in MS EXCEL on PCs with the most important question being "Do U own Race Horses? R U SURE they aren't Donkeys?" "R U under Portuguese guvrmand or Indian guvrmand?"
Then they gave us the TDS A-26 online at a different portal.
Then the EXCEL sheet grew Macros and could calculate!
Then they brought the JAVA-based form.
Then they actually started putting accurate info into the TDS A-26.
Then one year the TDS site was inaccessible from outside India until June or July. No explanation.
They the A-26 site actually started working, though with a 24-48 hour delay to generate the PDF or text file (???)
Last 2 years they set up the system to download the prior year's data and pre-fill your form!
All of the above are as viewed through rose-tinted glasses by diehard supporter of desh and its wonderful guvrmand. Reality was a lot harsher, but that's Water Under Da Bridge.
This year they have *&^%$(ed up the whole thing - AGAIN. Site seems to be run by Paki "IT exparts" and supervised on guvrmand side by anti-Modi Baboon or what? I have changed font color to red on the things I find strange.
Here is the experience:
1. JAVA system for ITR-2 (they no longer call it "Saral"). Instructions for Off-Line Utilities (if there is a way to fill directly on-line I have not found it)
Instructions: (as of right now, Mongolian time)
So if u read carefully (after many hours spent wondering WTF etc), the EXCEL utility does not work with Mac OS. (true, but u won't realize that.) What happens is that the utility works fine until you are all done and generated the XML. When you go to the actual e-filing and upload the XML, you get a cryptic message:Select the Assessment Year
Download and extract the zip file containing the utilities to the folder and open the utility
System Requirements
Excel Utilities: Macro enabled MS-Office Excel version 2007/2010/2013 on Microsoft Windows 7 / 8 /10 with .Net Framework (3.5 & above)
Java Utilities : Microsoft Windows 7/8/10, Linux and Mac OS 10.x with JRE (Java Runtime Environment) Version 8 with latest updates.
JRE can be downloaded from http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/ ... index.html
Pls kindly use current version of utility and generate XML again onlee!
U wonder WTF, I just downloaded the latest today maarning onlee!
Solution was to copy the filled-out EXCEL to Windows PC, shut off all virus protection, allow all Paki ITs to invade machine by Enabling All Macros under "Trust Center" and then re-generate XML after a few crashes of the system, and then voila! XML uploads just fine.
But I am jumping ahead of myself by several weeks of struggle.
What I tried initially was the wonderful JAVA, which
OK! You start by downloading the pre-filled data as XML. That had its own issues: Naam (last naam, first naam) backwards, TDS sources incomplete (they left out the Asst Commishunner, Income Tax who withheld TDS on Refund: why? Is it so rare?)Mac OS 10.x with JRE (Java Runtime Environment) Version 8 with latest updates. Utility was updated May 15, 2018.
JRE can be downloaded from http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/ ... index.html
That was because I downloaded the info back in early June, wanting to file early. NOW in July when I try to download, the XML has zero bytes!!! Tried several times, multiple Users/taxpayers/PANs. Same result.
Back to June. I went to the Oracle site mentioned above and made sure I had the latest JAVA.
Pls see this warning at the Oracle site about changing to older versions of JAVA:
Much more dire warnings are issued when one tries to install JAVA, about ppl even permitting older versions to be on computer.Java Archive
The Java Archive offers access to some of our historical Java releases.
WARNING: These older versions of the JRE and JDK are provided to help developers debug issues in older systems. They are not updated with the latest security patches and are not recommended for use in production.
So I updated JAVA as instructed by Oracle, and went merrily about my way of filling ITR-2. Wonderfully easy to use the Utility.
Saved the Draft, no problem: Zero Errors Zero Warnings. A panel turned green on the right side of the screen.
I hit "SAVE". Zero errors, zero warnings, but the panel stays white. No problem. I hit "Submit". Nothing happens, no errors no warnings.
You cannot submit the Draft saved, (I tried). Fortunately you could PRINT the saved draft and it was in human language.
I checked all the Forums etc on the web. Usual breezy answers from "Just hire me!" accountants. "Oh, sure we have filed ITR-2, 2018-19!"
So I tried going to a Windows machine. Downloaded JAVA. Downloaded ITR-2 package. Filled the whole thing again from scratch. Saved Draft. Tried to SAVE: nothing happens. Exactly same as on Mac.
So I filled in the Customer Sarbhij form asking if there would be an update to the Utility. They actually CALLED on the phone!!!!
"What version of JAVA are u using?
"Oh, ONLY the LATEST, saar!"
"No. What version is it?"
"er... whatever I downloaded from the site specified".
"Pls find out what version your JAVA is, and I will call back".
So I found it, Either I called them or they called me. "10.1.something, the latest!"
"You need to install Java 8 onlee. Remove all JAVA from your machine, install Java 8, then re-download all the forms, utilities from the site and fill it all again." Actually they specified JAVA8.152 See below how old that is....
So the Government of India in its Digital Wisdom, is asking taxpayers to ignore all security precautions and common sense, remove the latest version of Java and install a version 2 versions older, ignore the security warnings....
I am smart. I reasoned that they would eventually figure out these things. So I waited. July 7, ITR-2 is updated!!! Yippee! I downloaded the stuff again. Filled again. Same thing happened again. THEY DID NOT FIX THIS IN THEIR LATEST RELEASE OF THE SOFTWARE!!!!!!!
BTW, here is a JAVA release history:
I see from Wikipedia that JAVA releases 9 and 10 were short-term, and JAVA8.172 stays until July 2018. OK, but why not make the tax software compatible with latest JAVA release? People don't update their software for joy, they do it to keep out security vulnerabilities. So this means that the Indian govt. tax sites are not updated to fix security vulnerabilities either???? Don't worry, Be Happy!!!Information on this page is based on Oracle Critical Patch Updates (CPU) and Security Alerts which also has instructions on how to subscribe to CPU Alert e-mails.
Java Releases Release Date
Java 8 Update 171 CPU
Java 8 Update 172 PSU (OTN) April 17, 2018
Java 8 Update 161 CPU
Java 8 Update 162 PSU (OTN) January 16, 2018
Java 8 Update 151 CPU
Java 8 Update 152 PSU (OTN) October 17, 2017
Java 8 Update 144 Limited Update
July 26, 2017
Back to the EXCEL utility. I downloaded the latest. To the Mac. Enabled Macros (I am well trained..) The pre-fill no longer works (see above, it generates an XML of 0 bytes from the tax site!) But I filled all the stuff, got the data entered again, validated computed tax, computed set-off on CYLA, computed tax, validated, then generated XML.
Went to upload. "
Pls kindly use current version of utility and generate XML again onlee!
U wonder WTF, I just downloaded the latest today maarning onlee!
So this time I became smart. Copied the EXCEL utility to Windows. Went to Trust Center (as instructed) and removed all cautions. As Kabir ke Dohe (modified version) went:
Hu needs security after all? We are like that onlee!Jisko jitna chahiye
kaat-kaat le jayiye!
Uploaded no problem.
A few recommendations:
1) MAKE THE JAVA UTILITY COMPATIBLE WITH LATEST JAVA!!!!!!! Or at least provide a message saying: Go and remove latest versions of software, pls download old versions so that hackers can get into ur computer easily and when you log into govt. site hackers can get into govt. site if there is any room given all the hackers already there!
2) Make the EXCEL UTILITY with calculations that DO NOT REQUIRE user to shut off computer protections.
3) Hire Baboon who will refuse to pay TCS or whatever other fly-by-nite Con-sultants they hire to do India's national software until there is some minimal attention to quality control.
More on Govt. Prestigious Pradhan Mantri Scheme Implementations next if this post does not disappear. Thanks onlee.
If any TCS/ other postors happen to see this, could you pls kindly post the name and Twitter Handle of the TCS Manager in Charge of the Indian Govt. Income Tax Dept. portfolio?
Also, the name and pata of the Indian govt. IAS aphsar and Mantri responsible for implementing the website and tax software systems?
As I see it, the govt and taxpayers are trying their hardest to set up the most user-friendly and convenient system I can imagine. FREE tax-computing software, automated data fill-in, automated records of TDS...
But when it comes to implementation and maintenance, it's the old story of Michael Crichton's CONGO. A great tecnhological civilization, set up by immensely thoughtful people, now run by (never mind).
As the old story goes:
"Have you ever worked in a Responsible Position?"
"Sure! In all my previous jobs, whenever something got totally messed up, the Boss told me I was Responsible!"
"Congratulations! You are Hired to be Chief Baboo oph Income Tax Software System Contract onlee!!"