The Ministry of Finance has announced a significant achievement in the filing of Income Tax Returns (ITRs) for the Assessment Year 2023-24. The record-breaking number of ITRs filed till July 31, 2023, reflects a 16.1% year-on-year growth compared to the previous year. The report highlights the surge in ITR filing and the positive impact of various initiatives undertaken by the Income-tax Department.
Analysis: The report shows a remarkable growth in the number of ITRs filed for AY 2023-24, with over 6.77 crore returns received by the due date. The filing peaked on July 31, 2023, with 64.33 lakh ITRs filed on that single day, indicating the taxpayers’ compliance with the deadline. Notably, 53.67 lakh first-time filers have contributed to the widening of the tax base, reflecting an encouraging trend.
The Department’s efforts to encourage early filing, with campaigns on social media and targeted email and SMS campaigns, have yielded fruitful results. Comparing the filing milestones with the previous year shows a significant improvement in the number of ITRs filed in a timely manner for AY 2023-24.
A substantial portion of data for ITR-1, ITR-2, ITR-3, and ITR-4 was prefilled, easing compliance for taxpayers. The e-verification process through Aadhaar OTP and other methods has seen a high adoption rate, with more than 5.63 crore ITRs already e-verified, and over 61% of ITRs for AY 2023-24 processed by July 31, 2023.
Conclusion: The Ministry of Finance, along with the Income-tax Department, appreciates taxpayers and tax professionals for their timely compliances, resulting in a remarkable surge in ITR filing for AY 2023-24. The growth in the number of ITRs filed, coupled with efforts to simplify the filing process, indicates a positive trajectory for tax compliance in the country. The Department urges taxpayers to verify their ITRs within 30 days of filing and encourages those who missed the due date to complete their filing promptly.
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Ministry of Finance
New record of over 6.77 crore Income Tax Returns (ITRs) filed till 31st July, 2023; record growth of 16.1% Year-on-Year
64.33 lakh ITRs filed on 31st July, 2023
53.67 lakh ITRs from first time filers indicates widening of tax base
5.63 crore ITRs already e-verified, with more than 3.44 crore (61%) ITRs for AY 2023-24 processed by 31st July, 2023
The Income-tax Department appreciates the taxpayers and tax professionals for making compliances in time, leading to a surge in filing of Income-tax Returns (ITRs), resulting in a new record of ITRs filed. The total number of ITRs for AY 2023-24 filed till 31st July, 2023 are more than 6.77 crore, which is 16.1% more than the total ITRs for AY 2022-23 (5.83 crore) filed till 31st July 2022.
The filing of ITRs peaked on 31st July, 2023 (due date for salaried taxpayers and other non-tax audit cases) with over 64.33 lakh ITRs being filed on a single day i.e. on 31st July, 2023. The e-filing portal also observed its highest per hour rate of 4,96,559 of ITR filing between 5 PM to 6 PM on 31st July, 2023, with highest per second rate of ITR filing of 486 (31-Jul-2023: 16:35:06) and highest per minute rate of ITR filing of 8,622 (31-Jul-2023: 17:54).
The Department also received 53.67 lakh ITRs till 31st July, 2023 from first time filers, a fair indication of widening of tax base.
Campaigns on Socialmedia along with targeted e-mail and SMS campaigns were launched to encourage the taxpayers to file their ITRs early. Such concerted efforts led to fruitful results with taxpayers filing their ITRs for AY 2023-24 relatively earlier compared to the corresponding period of the preceding year. The following data corroborates the same:
| ITR filing milestone | AY 2022-23 | AY 2023-24 |
| 1 crore | 8th July 2022 | 26th June 2023 |
| 2 crore | 20th July 2022 | 11th July 2023 |
| 3 crore | 25th July 2022 | 18th July 2023 |
| 4 crore | 28th July 2022 | 24th July 2023 |
| 5 crore | 30th July 2022 | 27th July 2023 |
| 5.83 crore | 31st July 2022 | 30th July 2023 |
| 6 crore | — | 30th July 2023 |
| 6.77 crore | — | 31st July 2023 |
Out of the 6.77 crore ITRs filed for AY 2023-24, 49.18% of ITRs are ITR-1 (3.33 crore), 11.97% are ITR-2 (81.12 lakh), 11.13% are ITR-3 (75.40 lakh), 26.77% are ITR-4 (1.81 crore) and 0.94% are ITR-5 to 7 (6.40 lakh). Over 46% of these ITRs have been filed using the online ITR utility available on the e-filing portal and the balance have been filed using offline ITR utilities.
During the peak filing period, e-filing portal successfully handled huge traffic providing a seamless experience to taxpayers for filing of ITRs. During the period from 1st July, 2023 to 31st July, 2023, there were more than 32 crore successful logins on the e-filing portal. On 31st July, 2023 itself, successful logins stood at 2.74 crore.
It is heartening to note 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 ITR-1,2,3 and 4 was already 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 for taxpayers. The taxpayers used this facility extensively, resulting in smoother and faster filing of ITRs.
The process of e-verification through Aadhaar OTP and other methods is important for the Department to commence processing of the ITR and to issue refunds, if any. It is encouraging to note that 5.63 crore returns have been e-verified, out of which more than 5.27 crore are through Aadhaar based OTP (94%). Of the e-verified ITRs, more than 3.44 crore ITRs for AY 2023-24 have been processed (61%) by 31st July, 2023.
Further, a new e-pay tax payment platform TIN 2.0 was made available on the e-filing portal, replacing the earlier Protean (NSDL) based OLTAS payment system. This enabled provision of more user-friendly options for e-payment of taxes and making available more number of options for mode of payments 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. Over 1.26 crore challans have been received through TIN 2.0 payment system in the month of July, 2023 itself, while total challans filed through TIN 2.0 since 1st April, 2023 stands at 3.56 crore.
The e-filing Helpdesk team has handled approximately 5 lakh queries from taxpayers in the month of July, 2023 supporting the taxpayers proactively during the peak filing period. The support from the helpdesk was provided to taxpayers through inbound calls, outbound calls, live chats, webex and co-browsing sessions. Helpdesk team also supported resolution of queries received on the Twitter handle of the Department through Online Response Management (ORM), by proactively reaching out to the taxpayers/ stakeholders and assisting them for different issues on near real-time basis.
The Department is thankful for the support in timely compliances and requests all taxpayers to verify their ITRs within 30 days of filing. The Department also urges taxpayers, who for any reason, missed the due date, to complete their filing immediately.
