The government says the Income Tax e-filing portal can manage the July 31 rush after infrastructure upgrades, although occasional delays may occur during peak traffic.
ITR Filing Rush Intensifies Before July 31
The Income Tax Department’s e-filing portal is seeing rapidly rising traffic as the July 31, 2026 deadline approaches for many salaried employees, pensioners and individuals filing ITR-1 or ITR-2 for Assessment Year 2026-27. The government told Parliament that occasional slow responses may occur during heavy usage, but said the portal has remained largely stable.
Between July 8 and July 14, daily return filings more than doubled year-on-year on several days. On July 14, around 12.22 lakh returns were filed, nearly 99 lakh logins were recorded and total portal transactions reached about 1.61 crore.
Portal Capacity Raised to One Crore Returns a Day
The Finance Ministry said the system has been performance-tested and validated to process up to one crore income tax returns in a single day. That capacity is well above the filing volume recorded in mid-July, although logins, tax payments and other services also add to the portal’s workload.
Officials said the upgraded infrastructure has allowed the system to remain operational during the surge. However, the government has not promised that every user will experience instant logins or responses during the final days.
CBDT Measures Target Glitches and Cyber Threats
The Central Board of Direct Taxes has expanded computing power, storage, memory, network capacity and bandwidth. It has also corrected major infrastructure issues identified during earlier filing seasons.
A 24-hour monitoring framework and dedicated War Room have been created to detect and resolve technical problems. Firewalls and safeguards against cyberattacks and automated bot traffic have also been upgraded. The department is coordinating with UIDAI, RBI, banks, CDSL, NSDL, ICAI and e-return intermediaries to reduce disruptions.
The government also said the portal’s managed service provider had faced contractual penalties for project delays, weak service performance, application outages and deadline extensions attributed to service failures.
Taxpayer Advice: File Early and Check Your Deadline
The official portal will operate support lines around the clock from July 25 until 11:59 PM on July 31. Taxpayers should still avoid waiting until the last day because heavy traffic can slow logins, tax payments, verification or form submission.
The July 31 deadline does not apply to every category. Many salaried taxpayers and pensioners fall under it, while certain non-audit business or professional cases may have an August 31 deadline. Filers should confirm the date applicable to their return form and category.
Filing early leaves time to compare Form 26AS, AIS and TIS, correct bank or income details, pay any remaining tax and complete electronic verification. The portal may be equipped for the rush, but early filing remains the safer option.
