Filing of income tax returns up 71% till 31 August
05 Sep 2018
There has been a marked improvement in the number of Income Tax Returns (ITRs) filed during FY 2018 (up to 31 August 2018, the extended due date of filing) compared to the corresponding period in the preceding year.
The total number of ITRs e-filed up to 31 August 2018 stood at 54.2 million against 31.7 million filed in the same period in the previous year, marking an increase of 70.86 per cent. Almost 3.50 million returns were uploaded on 31 August 2018, the last date of the extended due date of filing of ITRs.
A remarkable increase is seen in the number of ITRs in 2 categories, ie, ITRs filed by salaried Individuals (ITR-1 & 2) as also those availing the benefit of the Presumptive Taxation Scheme (ITR-4).
The total number of e-returns of salaried Individual taxpayers filed till 31 August 2018 increased to 33.7 million from 21.9 million returns filed during the corresponding period of 2017, registering an increase of 11.8 million returns, translating into a growth of almost 54 per cent.
The number of returns e-filed by persons availing the benefit of Presumptive Tax recorded a stupendous growth with 11.7 million returns having been filed up to 31 August 2018 compared to 1.49 million returns filed up to 31 August 2017, recording a massive increase of 681.69 per cent.
The increase in the number of returns reveals a marked improvement in the level of voluntary compliance of taxpayers, which can be attributed to several factors, including the impact of demonetisation, enhanced persuasion and education of taxpayers as also the impending provision of late fee which would be effective on late filing of returns. This is indicative of an India moving steadily towards a more tax compliant society & reflects the impact of continuous leveraging of technology to improve taxpayer service delivery, says a finance ministry release.