The Income Tax Department recorded more than 8.18 crore income tax returns (ITRs) filed up to December 31, 2023, for the assessment year 2023–24 (AY 2023–24), according to the Ministry of Finance. This is a 9% hike from the 7.51 crore ITRs filed in the corresponding period of AY 2022–23, as per a release.
During the period until December 31, 2023, a total of 1.60 crore audit reports and other forms were filed in comparison to 1.43 crore audit reports and other forms in the corresponding period of the previous assessment year.
The I-T Department also crossed an outreach of more than 103.5 crore made through targeted e-mail, SMS, and other creative campaigns to encourage taxpayers to file ITRs and forms before the deadline.
The e-filing helpdesk team also responded to nearly 27.37 lakh queries from taxpayers during the AY 2023–24 December 31, 2023. These queries on the helpdesk were handled through inbound calls, outbound calls, live chats, WebEx and co-browsing sessions.
The helpdesk team also resolved queries received on the I-T Department’s X (formerly Twitter) handle through online response management (ORM), reaching out to the taxpayers and assisting them on a near-real-time basis.
During FY 2023–24, TIN 2.0, a digital e-pay tax payment platform, became fully functional on the e-filing portal after replacing the OLTAS payment system. The Finance Ministry informed, “This (TIN 2.0) enabled user-friendly options for e-payment of taxes 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.”
