Filing of Income Tax Returns registered an upsurge of 71 percent on Saturday. The total number of ITRs e-filed upto August 31, 2018 was 5.42 crore as against 3.17 crore upto August 31, 2018, marking an increase of 70.86%.

Arun Jaitley, Minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs said on Twitter"A significant aspect has been the increase of 682% in the returns by persons adopting the presumptive income scheme. Congratulations to all the tax payers and the Income Tax Department for the continuous efforts in making India a more tax compliant society."

Total number of income tax returns filed upto 31/08/2018 has shown remarkable growth of 71% crossing 5.42 crores. (1/2)

— Arun Jaitley (@arunjaitley) September 1, 2018

The last date of the extended due date of filing of ITRs was August 31, 2018.

The total number of e-returns of salaried Individual taxpayers filed till August 31, 2018 increased to 3.37 crore from 2.19 crore returns filed during the corresponding period of 2017, registering an increase of 1.18 crore returns translating into a growth of almost 54%.

The government said a "remarkable increase" was seen in the number of ITRs filed by salaried Individuals (ITR-1 and 2) as also those availing the benefit of the Presumptive Taxation Scheme (ITR-4), under which a small taxpayer can declare income at a prescribed rate and, in turn, is relieved from the job of maintaining of books of account.

"The total number of e-returns of salaried individual taxpayers filed till August increased to 3.37 crore from 2.19 crore returns filed during the corresponding period of 2017, registering an increase of 1.18 crore returns translating into a growth of almost 54 per cent," the statement said.

"A stupendous growth has been witnessed in the number of returns e-filed by persons availing the benefit of presumptive tax, with 1.17 crore returns having been filed compared to 14.93 lakh returns up to August 31, 2017 registering a massive increase of 681.69 per cent," it said.

With inputs from IANS.

First Published:Sept 1, 2018 7:17 PM IST