51 lakh or 7.5% more Indians filed income tax returns this year; 72% taxpayers opted for new system

Taxpayers and tax professionals made their compliances on time, leading to a surge in the filing of Income Tax Returns (ITRs), resulting in a new record of ITRs filed till July 31, 2024.

The last date for filing income tax returns was July 31. A release issued by the Finance Ministry on Friday said that the total number of ITRs filed for the assessment year 2024-25 till July 31, 2024, is over 7.28 crore, which is 7.5 per cent more than the total ITRs (6.77 crore) filed for the assessment year 2023-24.

The Finance Ministry said that the number of taxpayers adopting the new tax system is increasing this year.

Out of a total of 7.28 crore ITRs, 5.27 crore have been filed under the new tax regime, while 2.01 crore were filed under the old tax regime. Thus, about 72 per cent of taxpayers have opted for the new tax regime, while the remaining 28 per cent have remained in the old tax regime.

The peak of ITR filing will be on July 31, 2024 (the due date for salaried taxpayers and other non-tax audit cases), when over 69.92 lakh ITRs will be filed in a single day.

The e-filing portal also witnessed the highest rate of 5.07 lakh ITR filings per hour between 07:00 PM and 08:00 PM on July 31.

A total of 58.57 lakh Income Tax Returns were filed by first time filers, which is a good sign of expansion of tax base.

The ministry said, “Great emphasis was laid on educating taxpayers about the old and new tax regimes. FAQs and educational videos were prepared and uploaded on the e-filing portal.”

Focused campaigns were run on social media to encourage taxpayers to file their ITR promptly.

Along with this, unique creative campaigns were also run on different platforms. Informative videos were shown on the digital platform in 12 local languages ​​besides English and Hindi.

Outdoor campaigns were also conducted. Such concerted efforts brought good results and the number of filings increased.

The following statistics of ITR filings over the past few years confirm this:

The process of e-verification is important to initiate the processing of ITR and release of refund (if any).

The ministry said it is encouraging to see that over 6.21 crore ITRs have been e-verified, of which over 5.81 crore are through Aadhaar-based OTP (93.56 per cent). Of the e-verified ITRs, over 2.69 crore ITRs for 2024-2025 have been processed (43.34 per cent) till July 31, 2024.

The e-filing Helpdesk team has resolved around 10.64 lakh taxpayer queries during the year till July 31, and proactively assisted taxpayers during the peak filing period.

Taxpayers are also requested to verify their unverified ITR, if any, within 30 days of filing the ITR. Taxpayers who have missed filing their ITR within the due date for any reason are requested to complete their filing as early as possible.