(ITR) Income tax returns picked up for scrutiny has reduced to 0.25 percent of the total ITRs filed in assessment year (AY) 2018-19, from 0.55 percent in AY 2017-18, the Finance Ministry said.
“I-T department is changing-from just enforcement to facilitating better taxpayer services. In continuation of the same, the number of cases selected for scrutiny has reduced drastically over the years,” the ministry said in a tweet late on Tuesday.
Official data released showed the number of income tax scrutiny cases was 0.71 percent in AY 2015-16, 0.40 percent in AY 2016-17, 0.55 percent in AY 2017-18, and 0.25 percent in AY 2018-19.
The scrutiny rate is the lowest in the past four assessment years. In 2016-17, 0.40% of returns filed were scrutinized while in 2017-18, 0.55% of the cases were taken up for scrutiny.
State-wise data also showed while the scrutiny as a percentage of income tax returns (ITRs) filed has come down, the number of returns filed during AY 2018-19 has gone up compared to AY 2017-18.
In Delhi, which has over 16 million PAN cardholders, the rate of scrutiny has reduced from 1.12% in 2015-16 where 2.5 million returns were filed, to 0.52% in 2018-19 assessment year when 3.2 million income tax returns were filed.
For Maharashtra, which has over 66.6 million PAN cardholders, the number of cases selected for scrutiny has reduced to 0.38% of 9.7 million in 2018-19 assessment year, from a high of 0.98% of 7.48 million cases in 2015-16 assessment year.
In Punjab, 27.65 lakh ITRs were filed in AY 2018-19, up from 23.44 lakh filed in 2017-18. In West Bengal 38.93 lakh ITRs were filed in AY 2018-19, while cases picked up for scrutiny were 0.25 percent. This compares to 33.64 lakh ITRs filed and 0.59 percent scrutiny cases in 2017-18. PTI JD ANS.
Scrutiny cases in Odisha reduced to 0.12 percent in AY 2018-19, from 0.37 percent in the year before. Similarly, for Punjab, it came down from 0.40 percent to 0.14 percent in AY 2018-19.
As many as 10.29 lakh ITRs were filed in Odisha in AY 2018-19, against 8.31 lakh in AY 2017-18.
Mean-while, India’s COVID-19 tally reached 19,64,537 today, with 56,282 cases being reported in a day. Recoveries rose to 13,28,336 including 46,121 in the past 24 hours, according to the Union Health Ministry data. There are 5,95,501 active cases of coronavirus infection in the country presently while the recovery rate among COVID-19 patients has gone up to 67.19%. This is the eighth consecutive day that COVID-19 cases have increased by more than 50,000. 904 patients succumbed to coronavirus infection in the past 24 hours, taking the overall death toll to 40,699.
