More Than 5.2 Crore Income Tax Returns Filed As Deadline Ends
There was an increase of more than 60 percent in total returns filed, compared to the previous year.
Over 5.29 crore income tax returns have been filed by taxpayers as the deadline ended today, signalling an increase of over 60 percent from the previous year.
The total number of income tax returns filed by the taxpayers during the current financial year stands at 5.29 crore, officials said.
They said the Income Tax Department received over 22 lakh returns, largely over the online or e-filing mode, in a single day today till 7 pm.
As the filing will go on till the midnight of Aug. 31 and few more income tax returns are expected from the residents of Kerala (for which the deadline has been extended till September 15), the figures are expected to rise further, they said.
The final reconciliation of the numbers, after the end of the general deadline for filing of income tax returns today, will be done over the next few days.
The officials attributed the increase in the number of returns filed this time largely to two causes—the expansion in the tax base due to demonetisation and the first time decision to impose monetary penalty on late filers of returns.
The government, last month, had extended the deadline for filing income tax returns (for assessment year 2018-19) till today while a special extension till Sept. 15 was given in this context to the taxpayers of flood-hit Kerala.