According to the income tax department, 72.8 million income tax returns (ITR) were filed for the assessment year 2024-25 by July 31. Of these, 52.7 million were filed under the new tax regime, while 20.1 million were under the old regime. Last year, 67.7 million returns were filed during the same period. The new tax regime, now the default, allows individuals without business income to choose the most beneficial regime each financial year. Budget 2024 introduced changes to the lower tax slabs under the new tax regime to benefit the salaried class. The income tax department has decided not to extend the July 31 deadline for the third consecutive year. Returns filed after this date incur a late fee of up to US$ 59.71 (Rs. 5,000), with a US$ 11.94 (Rs. 1,000) fee for those with taxable income up to US$ 5,971.43 (Rs. 5 lakh). The department reported 585,700 ITRs from first-time filers, indicating a broader tax base and improved compliance.
ITR filings peaked on July 31, 2024, with over 699,200 filed alone. The platform recorded a peak rate of 917 filings per second on July 17 and 9,367 filings per minute on July 31. For the first time, key ITR forms (ITR-1, ITR-2, ITR-4, ITR-6) were available on the e-filing portal from April 1, 2024, the start of the financial year. ITR-3 and ITR-5 were also released earlier than in previous years. On July 31, there were 32 million successful logins. Over 62.1 million ITRs were e-verified, with 58.1 million using Aadhaar-based OTPs, reflecting a 93.56% adoption rate. Of these e-verified returns, 43.34% (over 26.9 million) were processed by July 31. The TIN 2.0 payment system saw significant activity, with 919,400 challans received in July 2024 for AY 2024-25, contributing to 16.4 million challans since April 1, 2024. The e-filing Helpdesk handled approximately 1.064 million taxpayer queries and over 107,000 emails from April 1 to July 31, 2024, successfully resolving 99.97% of queries. The department conducted focused outreach campaigns on social media to encourage early ITR filing. It implemented unique creative campaigns across various platforms.
Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same.
