Registering onto the portal requires you to enter a user ID and a password, which is followed by another step for verifying your details a second time. It is simply called the two-factor authentication, or ‘static password’ on this e-Filing portal.
Generating a static password is one of the plenty of other options available on the updated income tax portal. This feature is particularly helpful in cases where the chances of receiving an OTP/EVC number to your mobile phone is low, owing to poor or no network connectivity.
Once you have logged in for the first time using your credentials on the updated website at www.incometax.gov.in, you will be able to generate a static password by following these steps:
Of these ten passwords, you can use each one of them, one by one, for the next thirty days, or until you’ve used up all the ten static passwords to log in to the portal next time.
Static passwords are meant for one-time use only. This means that once you’ve used one of the ten static passwords for your two-factor authentication, you cannot use the same password again. However, you can use another password from the remaining nine of them to log in to your next session.
It is a system-generated numeric code that you can keep handy while logging in, where you can easily access your dashboard without waiting for an OTP or an EVC number. The generated passwords are sent to your primary registered email and are valid for the next thirty days from the date of generating them. They all expire on the 30th day when left unused.
If you have used up all (but one) generated passwords, you can generate these passwords once again by following the same aforementioned process, even if the thirty days have not passed.
Either all passwords have been used, or they’ve all expired after the 30th day; you can generate them anew.
Additionally, you can also check the status of the generated passwords on the portal, how many you have used and how many remain unused.
If static passwords have not yet been generated, the page shows the same list of instructions as mentioned before. However, as you already have requested the set of static passwords, the page will now show the count of how many static passwords are remaining to be used. The page also shows the remaining days of validity until you can generate new passwords.
Eg: 7 static passwords are/are unused. Please use the remaining static passwords to log in to the e-Filing portal, or you can generate a new set of passwords after 12 days.
If you want the email sent to you again, click on the ‘Resend Static Password’ button on the page.
On success, the page refreshes to show a message that reads ‘‘x” passwords have been re-sent.
It is necessary to note that you can generate passwords after whichever comes first: either you’ve used up all passwords, or the thirty days validity for the passwords is up, which is when you can generate new passwords again.
The new e-Filing portal seeks to make the interface more interactive than the older, more cumbersome website. The revised site is user-friendly, and soon, mobile-friendly. Not only does the portal simplify things for the taxpayers, but it also brings convenience to other users too, registered and unregistered or external too.
It is optional for taxpayers to use static passwords. The new portal provides taxpayers to use static passwords as a second authentication factor.
No. These passwords are system-generated and will be emailed to you on your registered email ID.
Yes, but you can only use one static password twice and these passwords will only be valid for 30 days.
You can keep track of your passwords manually, or you can navigate to your Dashboard > Static Password tab > Resend Static Password. On your e-Filing registered email ID, you will receive an email with a list of unused static passwords.
A status password is a 6-digit alphanumeric code.
