New Delhi: Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Monday that about one lakh notices were sent in cases of non-filing of returns and giving wrong information of income.
He said that 55,000 outright cases were opened after the Supreme Court order.
In his address at the 164th Income Tax Day programme, the Finance Minister said that tax rates have not increased in the last few years, yet the revenue has been increasing continuously in the last three-four years.
“We are talking about broadening the tax base through awareness and incentives. The Income Tax Department is working towards a taxpayer-friendly system.
“If income tax revenue is rising, it is not because of rate hikes, but because of efficiency, plugging leakages and formalizing the economy,” he said.
Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) chairman Nitin Gupta said that over four crore income tax returns (ITRs) for 2022-23 have been filed so far, and more than half of them have been processed, with 80 lakh refunds issued.
Seven per cent of taxpayers filing income tax returns this year are “new taxpayers”, he said, adding that the number of new taxpayers is expected to increase by July 31.
He, however, said that “shortage of manpower (in the department) at every level is hampering our efforts to deliver better results” and urged the finance minister to “swiftly approve” the department’s cadre restructuring proposal.
Present on the occasion, Revenue Secretary Sanjay Malhotra said, “A record 72 lakh income tax returns were received in a single day… The average processing of returns has been reduced to 16 days. We need to focus more on more automation of taxpayers’ services.”
