The CBDT (Central Board of Direct Taxes) denied the reports of the media which said that in the FY 2018-19 the number of ITR (Income Tax Returns) filers has been reduced to which the CBDT said that the FY 2018-19 must not be compared with the FY 2017-18.
In a statement, the CBDT said: “This is factually untrue because the figures for FY 2017-18 and FY 2018-19 are not directly comparable”.
Related to the decrease in the number of ITR e-filers in the FY 2018-19 if compared with the FY 2017-18, the tax authority gave a statement in response to the media reporters.
The CBDT clearing the doubt said in FY 2018, from 6.74 crores, 5.47 crore ITRs were filed in the current year for the AY 2017-18. While on the other hand, in FY 19 6.68 crores of ITRs were filed in which there was 6.49 crore of ITRs were filed for the current AY 2019-19. By these figures, we can say that undoubtedly there was a growth of around 19 per cent.
It said, “This would imply that a substantially larger number of taxpayers filed their ITRs electronically in the FY 2018-19 as compared to FY 2017-18”.
The CBDT explained the exact details and said that in the FY 2018, the number of ITRs that were filed for AY 2016-17 was around 1.21 crore and this figure excluded the returns for the AY 2017-18. While on the other hand, 0.06 crore ITRs were filed for AY 2015-16 as well as the previous AYs. During the FY 2018-19, number of ITRs that were filed for AY 2017-18 only 0.14 crore.
The taxes body said “Thus, the apparent decrease in the number of ITRs filed during FY 2018-19 pertaining to earlier years was due to an amendment in Section 139(5) of the Income-tax Act, 1961 brought in vide Finance Act, 2017, w.e.f. 01.04.2018, which mandated that a revised return could be furnished only up to the end of the relevant Assessment Year”.
It said that as a result, during the financial year 2018-19, only 0.14 crore ITRs were filed to AY 2017-18 and this happened because it was the revised ITRs for the respective AY which was filed only due to the amendments in the law.
Read Also: Download Trial Version of Fastest Income Tax Return E-Filing Software
CBDT also said that for AY 2017-18, only 9.2 lakh filed the paper ITRs (i.e. 1.5% of total ITRs were filed) while in the AY 2018-19, 4.8 lakh paper ITRs were filed (i.e. 0.6 per cent of total ITRs were filed). These figures point out that many of the taxpayers have shifted to the e-filing from the paper ITRs in AY 2018-19 if compared to the prior years.
