| E-filing of income tax returns is likely to increase sharply to 3 million in the current financial year (2007-08), up from around 322,000 in 2006-07. |
| Non-corporate assessees, whose accounts are audited under Section 44AB of the Income Tax Act, are expected to account for a bulk of these filings, with as many 2.5 million e-returns expected from them this year. |
| Partnership firms and businesses whose turnover exceeds Rs 40 lakh a year and professionals whose income exceeds Rs 10 lakh a year come under this category, for whom e-returns were made mandatory from this year onwards. |
| Corporates, for whom e-filing was made mandatory last year, are expected to file around 322,000 e-returns. For both the above categories, the last date for filing returns is October 31, 2007. |
| Till July 31 this year, around 146,000 e-returns had already been filed by salaried individuals and businessmen for whom e-filing is optional. Only 3,300 assessees had filed e-returns till July 31, 2006. |
| The rapid increase in e-returns will test the Income Tax Department’s preparedness to process such returns. The department has recently set up a National Computer Centre connecting 745 locations in 510 cities and towns across India. Work is in progress to set up a National Data Centre by December this year, official sources said. |
| “After the new architecture is in place, there will be speedier processing of returns and prompt issue of refunds,” the sources added. |
| Going forward, more individual taxpayers may prefer to file returns online to avoid the hassles of filing returns manually at a designated office, officials said. |
| Besides faster processing of returns and greater efficiency in collection, the department’s technology initiative is expected to enhance capacity to handle the projected workload up to 2010-11. |
| To make e-filing smooth, the department has also redesigned the tax return forms. Now called the Income Tax Return (ITR) form series 1 to 8, the forms are annexure-less, except ITR-7. |
| The total number of income tax returns filed in 2007-08, including e-returns, is expected to be slightly higher than the 35 million in 2006-07. |
CAclubindia
