According to Revenue Secretary Sanjay Malhotra, India's direct tax revenues have increased from Rs 5.59 lakh crore to Rs 20 lakh crore within a year over the last 10 years, and the tax-to-Gross Domestic Product ratio has gone up to 6 per cent from 5.6 per cent in this period.
In his address to the nation on the eve of Income Tax Day, he has said, "The focus which the Income Tax Department is giving to the use of technology compares with the best global practices to improve taxpayer services.".
He informed that out of over 7.28 crore income tax returns for the Assessment Year 2024-25 filed till July 31, 2024, more than 4.98 crore ITRs have already been processed, and the intimation sent to taxpayers. "Of this, 3.92 crore ITRs were processed in less than 15 days," he remarked.
He added that the Income-tax Department has been able to achieve two-fold objectives of doubling the tax base and making compliance easier for taxpayers through the introduction of faceless regime, e-verification and seamless e-filing.
In his inaugural address, Shri Ravi Agrawal, Chairman, Central Board of Direct Taxes, CBDT, pointed out that over years, the focus of the Department has been on enriching taxpayer services and using technology to ease compliances. He said Agrawal gave an overview of some of the achievements in the last fiscal—including growth of 17.7 percent achieved in net collections and an increase of 7.5 percent in the number of ITRs filed over the previous year, up to July 31, 2024.
He also mentioned that out of this, 72 percent of the returns were filed under the New Tax Regime, underlining the wide acceptance of the system, with 58.57 lakh first-time filers being a fair indication of the widening of the tax base.
He has also highlighted achievements in the area of Advance Pricing Agreements, whereby a record number of 125 APAs were signed in the last fiscal. He also mentioned that the 10th Income Tax Overseas Unit has been operationalised in Abu Dhabi, UAE, demonstrating the commitment of the Department to extend its global reach.
He also drew attention to the focus of the department toward the up-gradation of technology by citing approvals of new versions of CPC-TDS, ITBA, and TAXNET projects, while underscoring the importance of review of Income-tax Act, 1961.
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