75 Lakh New Tax Filers Added To Income Tax Net This Fiscal Year: Official

About 75 lakh new tax filers have been added to the income tax payers list in the country so far this fiscal year, a senior official said.

The number of policy and enforcement measures undertaken to check tax evasion are among the reasons for achieving these numbers, the official told PTI.

The target is to add 1.25 crore fresh tax filers by the end of the financial year 2018-19 that ends in March, as per a directive of the Central Board of Direct Taxes. The Income Tax department is hopeful of meeting that 1.25 crore target, the official added.

The department, last fiscal, had added 1.06 crore new tax filers to the income tax net.

A new income tax filer is defined as a person who is not included in the tax filing base at the beginning of the year, but who files the return during the year.

A new income tax filer may not be called a fresh taxpayer added to the net as a person may file their income return but may not pay tax as they can claim legitimate exemptions. However, once a filer is in the income tax database, there is a little chance that such a person's income remains anonymous, the same official had said earlier.