51 lakh, or 7.5% more Indians filed income tax returns this year; 72% of taxpayers opted new regime

The taxpayers and tax professionals made their compliances in time, leading to a surge in filing of Income-tax Returns (ITRs), which resulted in a new record of ITRs filed till July 31, 2024.

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

An increasing number of taxpayers have opted for the New Tax Regime this year, the finance ministry said.

Out of the total ITRs of 7.28 crore filed, 5.27 crore have been filed in the New Tax Regime compared to 2.01 crore filed in the Old Tax Regime. Thus, about 72 per cent of taxpayers have opted for the New Tax Regime, while the rest 28 per cent continue to be in the Old Tax Regime.

The filing of ITRs peaked on July 31, 2024 (due date for salaried taxpayers and other non-tax audit cases) with over 69.92 lakh ITRs being filed on a single day.

The e-filing portal also observed its highest per hour rate of 5.07 lakh of ITR filing between 07:00 pm to 08:00 pm on July 31.

A total of 58.57 lakh ITRs from first time filers were reported, a fair indication of widening of tax base.

“A lot of emphasis was provided to educate taxpayers about Old and New tax regimes. FAQs and educational Videos on the same were designed and uploaded on the e-filing portal,” the ministry said.

Focussed outreach campaigns were carried out on Social Media to encourage the taxpayers to file their ITRs early.

Along with this, unique creative campaigns were also carried out on different platforms. Informational Videos in 12 Vernacular languages, apart from English and Hindi, were displayed on digital platforms.

Outdoor campaigns were also carried out. Such concerted efforts led to fruitful results with increased number of filings.

The following data of ITR filing over the last few years corroborates the same:

The process of e-verification is important to commence the processing of ITRs and to issue refunds, if any.

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

The e-filing Helpdesk team has handled approximately 10.64 lakh queries from taxpayers during the year upto July 31, supporting the taxpayers proactively during the peak filing period.

Taxpayers are also requested to verify their unverified ITRs if any, within 30 days of filing the ITR. Taxpayers are urged, who for any reason, missed filing their ITR within the due date, to complete their filing expeditiously.