Over 48.7 mn ITRs filed so far as deadline ends Sunday, says I-T dept

More than 48.7 mn income tax returns have been filed till late evening, the department said on Saturday, a day before the ITR filing deadline for the financial year 2021-22 ends

More than 4.87 crore income tax returns have been filed till late evening, the department said on Saturday, a day before the ITR filing deadline for the financial year 2021-22 ends.

The department issued a public message through its official Twitter handle asking taxpayers, largely individuals and salaried class, to file their Income Tax Returns (ITRs) before the due date.

It said over 4.52 crore ITRs for the assessment year 2022-23 have been filed till July 29 while it recorded more than 35 lakh ITR filings on Saturday till 6 pm.

The CBDT also issued an order stating that Aaykar Seva Kendras (ASKs) or Income Tax help centres across the country will remain open on Sunday and additional receipt counters will be opened, wherever required, to "facilitate filing of tax returns by the taxpayers."

"Hope you have filed yours too! If not, pl #FileNow. Due date to file ITR for AY 2022-23 is 31st July, 2022," the department said on Twitter.

Officials said the finance ministry and the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), that frames policy for the tax department, are continuously monitoring the ITR filing exercise.

A "war room" of technical experts working on the portal and the social media team of the CBDT that is gathering individual and public responses to the filing are working together 24x7, a senior officer told PTI.

The officer said issues related to the e-filing portal are being addressed promptly and a response to each and every query raised by the taxpayers is being provided.

Asked about the demands being made over the social media and through representations sent to the CBDT to extend the ITR filing deadline of July 31, officials said they are looking at ensuring that "filings are done smoothly till the deadline and nothing more is on their mind right now."

The department's Twitter handle responded to some messages that said the e-filing website was not working by stating: "As informed by our team, the e-filing portal is working fine. May we request you to retry after clearing the browser cache. If you still face any issues, pl share your details (with PAN & mobile no.) at mailto:orm@cpc.incometax.gov.in"orm@cpc.incometax.gov.in. Our team will connect with you."

According to data updated till July 28, around 4.05 crore ITRs were filed and among this the number of returns verified/validated by taxpayers stood at 3.09 crore.

The number of returns that were processable among these were 2.80 crore and out of this 2.41 crore or 86 per cent were processed, the data said.

The e-filing of ITRs by various categories of taxpayers is done at the web portal -- "http://incometax.gov.in".

About 5.89 crore ITRs were filed during the last time or the 2020-21 fiscal by the extended due date of December 31, 2021.