Record 8.18 Crore ITRs Filed For Assessment Year 2023-2024 Till Dec 31: Finance Ministry

The Central Board of Direct Taxes today said that a new record of 8.18 crore Income Tax Returns for the Assessment Year (AY) 2023-2024 has been filed up to December 31, 2023, as against 7.51 crore ITRs filed up to December 31, 2022. The CBDT said that the ITR filing has witnessed a record 9% increase in the total ITRs filed for AY 2022-23. 

"The total number of audit reports and other forms filed during the period is 1.60 crore, as against 1.43 crore audit reports and forms filed in the corresponding period of the preceding year," said the Finance Ministry. 

The Ministry of Finance also today said that a large number of taxpayers did their due diligence by comparing data of their financial transactions by viewing their Annual Information Statement (AIS) and Taxpayer Information Summary (TIS). 

"A substantial portion of the data for all ITRs was prefilled with data pertaining to salary, interest, dividend, personal information, tax payment including TDS related information, brought forward losses, MAT credit, etc to further ease compliance by taxpayers. The facility was used extensively, resulting in smoother and faster filing of ITRs," said the ministry.

The FinMin further said that during this FY 2023-2024, a digital e-pay tax payment platform - TIN 2.0 was made fully functional on the e-filing portal, replacing the OLTAS payment system. "This enabled user-friendly options for e-payment of taxes such as Internet Banking, NEFT/RTGS, OTC, Debit Card, payment gateway and UPI. TIN 2.0 platform has enabled real-time credit of taxes to taxpayers which made ITR filing easier and faster," it added.

The ministry said that the tax department has made over 103.5 crore outreach to encourage taxpayers to file their ITRs and Forms early. The IT Department further requests to the taxpayers to verify their unverified ITRs if any, within 30 days of filing the ITR to avoid any consequences.