The Finance Ministry has temporarily suspended the facility for e-filing of income tax returns as it could not procure a security certification for the Income Tax Department's website in time.

"Pending completion of the certification procedure, the e-filing facility for assessment year 2010-11 has been temporarily suspended... The facility is expected to be renewed very shortly," an official release said today.

The department has initiated the process for renewal of the security certificate of its e-filing portal, which expired on May 8, 2010, it added.

The security certification, which is provided by specialised agencies, indicates that adequate safeguards have been taken to protect data from unauthorized access.

The government had introduced the system for mandatory filing of income tax returns by corporates in electronic format from assessment year 2006-07.

The temporary suspension of e-filing of returns, the release added, will not affect taxpayers, as the due date for submitting income tax return for assessment year 2010-11 is July 31, 2010.

The e-filing portal of the Income Tax Department remains fully secure and the lapse of the security certificate does not mean that its security features are slackened or compromised, it said.