E-filing of income tax returns register 17% growth post demonetisation
The e-filing of income tax return (ITRs) went up by 17% post demonetisation, while the rise in the 'individual filers' category was over 23%, according to official data
New Delhi: The e-filing of income tax returns (ITRs) went up by 17% post demonetisation, while the rise in the ‘individual filers’ category was over 23%, according to official data.
Year-on-year data, accessed by PTI, shows that while a total of 3,21,61,320 e-returns were filed till 31 October last year (financial year 2016-17), the figure rose to 3,78,20,889 by this October-end (FY 2017-18). This reflects an overall growth of 17.60% in the number of people filing their ITRs online.
A senior income tax department officer, supervising these activities, attributed the rise to the withdrawal of two high-value currency notes of Rs500 and Rs1,000 from circulation by the government on 8 November last year.
The data also reflects an increase of 23.28% in the category of individual e-filers who use the basic ITR-1 form to show their income records to the taxman. While 1,69,04,759 people filed ITR-1 online last year, the figure stood at 2,08,40,303 this year, the data revealed. ITR-1 or ‘Sahaj’ filers are called ‘individual filers’ in income tax parlance.
Online filing of ITR-2A, filed by those who having income from salary and other sources, saw an increase by 21.78% as 28,82,189 returns were filed under this category till October this year as compared to 23,66,687 in the corresponding period last year.
“The spike in figures are due to demonetisation. The tax department had asked people to file their returns so that they are clean when it comes to making any transaction in the wake of the note ban,” the officer said.
The I-T department has already chosen 20,572 tax returns for “detailed scrutiny” suspecting discrepancies in incomes before and after demonetisation, official sources said yesterday.
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First Published:7 Nov 2017, 04:47 PM IST
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