The Income-tax Department has expressed its appreciation for taxpayers and tax professionals for their timely compliance, resulting in a record number of Income-tax Returns ( ITRs ) filed for the Assessment Year ( AY ) 2024-25. The total number of ITRs filed by July 31, 2024, reached over 7.28 crore, a 7.5% increase from the 6.77 crore ITRs filed by July 31, 2023.
An increasing number of taxpayers have opted for the New Tax Regime this year. Out of the 7.28 crore ITRs filed for AY 2024-25, 5.27 crore were filed under the New Tax Regime compared to 2.01 crore under the Old Tax Regime. This shift means that approximately 72% of taxpayers chose the New Tax Regime, while 28% remained with the Old Tax Regime.
July 31, 2024, the due date for salaried taxpayers and other non-tax audit cases, saw a peak in ITR filing with over 69.92 lakh returns filed in a single day. The e-filing portal recorded its highest per-hour filing rate of 5.07 lakh between 7:00 pm to 8:00 pm on the same day. Additionally, the highest per-second rate of ITR filing was 917 on July 17, 2024, at 8:13:54 am, and the highest per-minute rate was 9,367 at 8:08 pm on July 31, 2024.
The Department noted a significant widening of the tax base, with 58.57 lakh ITRs filed by first-time filers by July 31, 2024. In a historic first, various ITR forms ( ITR-1, ITR-2, ITR-4, ITR-6 ) were available on the e-filing portal from April 1, 2024, with ITR-3 and ITR-5 released earlier than in previous years. The Department emphasised educating taxpayers about the Old and New tax regimes through FAQs and educational videos on the e-filing portal.
Focussed outreach campaigns on social media encouraged early filing of ITRs. Unique creative campaigns were launched on different platforms, and informational videos in 12 vernacular languages, in addition to English and Hindi, were displayed on digital platforms. These concerted efforts resulted in a higher number of filings.
Of the 7.28 crore ITRs filed for AY 2024-25, 45.77% were ITR-1 ( 3.34 crore ), 14.93% were ITR-2 (1.09 crore), 12.50% were ITR-3 ( 91.10 lakh ), 25.77% were ITR-4 (1.88 crore), and 1.03% were ITR-5 to ITR-7 ( 7.48 lakh ). Over 43.82% of these ITRs were filed using the online ITR utility available on the e-filing portal, with the rest filed using offline ITR utilities.
The e-filing portal handled the peak traffic seamlessly, providing a smooth experience for taxpayers. On July 31, 2024, alone, the portal saw 3.2 crore successful logins. The e-verification process, crucial for processing ITRs and issuing refunds, saw over 6.21 crore e-verified returns, with 93.56% using Aadhaar-based OTP. As of July 31, 2024, more than 2.69 crore ITRs for AY 2024-25 have been processed ( 43.34% ).
In July 2024, 91.94 lakh challans were received through the TIN 2.0 payment system, with a total of 1.64 crore challans filed since April 1, 2024, for AY 2024-25. The e-filing Helpdesk handled approximately 10.64 lakh queries from taxpayers up to July 31, 2024, providing support through calls, live chats, WebEx, and co-browsing sessions.
The Helpdesk also resolved over 1.07 lakh emails and managed queries on the Department’s Twitter handle, achieving a 99.97% resolution rate.
The Department expressed gratitude to tax professionals and taxpayers for their compliance and urged those who missed the filing deadline to complete their filing promptly. Taxpayers are also reminded to verify any unverified ITRs within 30 days of filing.
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