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Synopsis : Tax return filing: Submit financial info to government, detailing income, deductions, and tax liability to ensure compliance and facilitate revenue collection.
The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has instructed its field officers to contact such individuals starting April 15, which is next week.
The Income Tax department will launch a campaign this fiscal year to identify individuals and entities obligated to file tax returns but have not done so or have evaded taxes. Sources within the department informed the Economic Times that the Income Tax department has identified 15.2 million individual taxpayers who have received income or had tax deducted at source (TDS) but have not filed returns.
CBDT has directed its field officers to engage with these individuals from April 15. According to a senior official, many individuals and entities had tax deducted at source but did not file returns.
In 2022-23, there were approximately 89 million taxpayers, with 74 million returns filed, including revised returns. It is estimated that 19.7 million individuals have not filed income tax returns (ITR) despite incurring TDS. This figure includes 19.3 million individuals, 28,000 Hindu undivided families, 121,000 firms, and others, as per the official.
Earlier this month, the Central government announced that it has largely achieved its tax collection target of over Rs 34.37 lakh crore for 2023-24, buoyed by robust economic activity and enhanced compliance. The direct tax collection target for FY24 (April 2023 to March 2024) was raised to Rs 19.45 lakh crore, while the target for indirect taxes (GST + Customs + Excise) in the revised estimates (RE) presented in Parliament on February 1, 2024, was lowered to Rs 14.84 lakh crore.
Last week, the Income Tax Department made ITR-1, ITR-2, and ITR-4 forms for FY 2023-24 (AY 2024-25) available for e-filing on its portal. Eligible taxpayers can now log in and fill their ITRs for FY 2023-24 using these forms.
The Income Tax Department has also released offline JSON utilities for ITR-1, ITR-2, ITR-4, and ITR-6 for the Fiscal Year 2023-24 (Assessment Year 2024-25), in addition to the previously available offline Excel utilities.
There are seven types of Income Tax Return (ITR) forms designed to accommodate various categories of individuals, businesses, and corporations, including ITR 1 (Sahaj), ITR 2, ITR 3, ITR 4 (Sugam), ITR 5, ITR 6, and ITR 7. Forms ITR-1 and ITR-4 are particularly designed to simplify the filing process for a significant segment of small to medium taxpayers.
