The highest number of income tax return (ITR) filing in a day stood at 72,42,156 as on July 31, 2022 — the due date for filing of tax returns u/s 139(1), Union Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary stated in a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha on Monday.
He pointed out that the Government has taken a series of steps in the recent years to maintain continuity and stability of taxation, further simplify and rationalise various provisions to reduce the compliance burden, and also to promote the entrepreneurial spirit and give tax relief to citizens.
The lowest number of ITR filing in a day was ‘1’ as on April 10, 2022 i.e., on the day ITR 1 & 4 were deployed, he said.
The average number of ITR filing in a day stood at 2,82,559. Total returns filed from April 10, 2022 to December 31, 2022 were 7,51,60,817, while the number of days stood at 266.
Moreover, for assessment year 2022-23, 3,02,40,121 ITRs (42.92 percent of total returns) were processed within a time span of 24 hours of furnishing of ITR, the minister stated.
Improving the portal
He also stated that the government is making conscious endeavour to improve the tax payer portal (e-filing portal).
Some of the steps that have been taken in this regard include roll out of online tax payment system (TIN 2.0) on which till now 19 banks have onboarded. Further this portal now offers new payment modes to taxpayers for payment of taxes.
This has led to faster credit of taxes paid. Further, educational videos and frequently asked questions (FAQs) are continuously being uploaded on the portal to create awareness among taxpayers on relevant topics for easier tax compliance.
Recently, facility for co-browsing has been enabled on the portal for providing help to the taxpayers by the helpdesk team in respect of issues related to portal.
Common tax return
The Minister also stated that the common Income Tax Return (“CTR”) has been proposed as a common return form for all persons barring trusts. The proposed Return aims to bring ease of filing returns and reduce the time for filing the ITR by individuals and non-business-type taxpayers considerably.
The taxpayers will not be required to see the schedules that do not apply to them. Schedules have been designed smartly in a user-friendly manner with better arrangement, logical flow, and with increased scope of pre-filling.
It will also facilitate the proper reconciliation of third-party data available with the income-tax department vis-à-vis the data to be reported in the ITR to reduce the compliance burden on the taxpayers.
Draft of the CTR was uploaded in public domain inviting comments from all stakeholders.
