Deadline for filing income tax returns will not extend: Revenue Secretary

An income tax official on Friday said that the tax department is not looking into extending the dates of filing income tax returns. Revenue Secretary Tarun Bajaj said that in the year 2021-2022 over 2.3 crore income returns were filed by July 20.

"People thought the routine now is that dates will be extended. So they were a little slow in filling the returns initially but now on a daily basis, we are getting between 15 lakhs to 18 lakh returns. This will slightly go up to 25 lakh to 30 lakh returns," he said. 

"Last time 9-10 per cent filed on last day. Last time, we had over 50 lakh (filing returns on the last date). This time, I have told my people to be ready for 1 crore (returns being filed on the last day)," he said.

"So far, there is no thinking of extending the last date of filing," he said. Bajaj said that the taxpayers feedback is very positive, he said due to ITR forms it has become very easy to file and that refunds are also being made in a very quick time.

"Previously 50,000 people were filing returns daily and now this number has gone up to 20 lakh. I am confident that returns will go up in the next few days and people will file their returns," he said.