Dismissing the reports indicating a decline in e-filling returns, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) reported 19 percent growth in fiscal year 2018-19.
CBDT further stated that out of 6.74 crore Income Tax Returns which were e-filed in the 2017-18 fiscal year, 5.47 crore returns were filed for Assessment Year (AY) 2017-18.
In the fiscal year 2018-19, 6.68 crore returns were filled electronically which included 6.49 crore returns of the current assessment year 2018-19, marking inflation of almost 19 percent.
“This would imply that substantially larger number of taxpayers filed their ITRs electronically in the fiscal year 2018-19 as compared to 2017-18 fiscal year,” the CBDT said in a statement.
“There have been some incorrect reports in media pertaining to reduction in numbers of income tax returns e-filed during financial year 2018-19 as compared to FY 2017-18. This is factually untrue, because the figures for FY 2017-18 and FY 2018-19 are not directly comparable,” added the department.
In the fiscal year 2017-18, apart from the returns for the assessment year 2017-18, around 1.21 crore returns were submitted for the assessment year 2016-17. The balance returns filed for the assessment year 2015-16 and previous assessment years is reported to be 0.06 crore.
