Income Tax Returns Jump 25% On Demonetisation: CBDT 

The number of income tax returns filed by taxpayers rose 25 percent in the year ended March as the government continues to crack down on undeclared wealth.

Taxpayers filed 2.82 crore returns as on August 5 deadline, the Central Board of Direct Taxes said in a release. The last day of filing had been extended by five days.

Returns filed by individual taxpayers jumped 25.3 percent over the previous year to 2.79 crore, the release said.

The CBDT attributed the rise to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's decision to scrap 86 percent of the currency in circulation by withdrawing old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes in November. The government followed it up with Operation Clean Money to find out the source of large cash deposits after the note ban. It later made Aadhaar mandatory for income tax returns, besides pushing digital payments and banning cash transactions above Rs 2 lakh.

The CBDT release also said that advance personal income tax collections, excluding corporate tax, grew 41.8 percent but didn't share the final numbers.

Also Read: E-Filing Of Income Tax Returns Jumps 20% Till August 1