In a press release dated August 7, 2017, The Central Board of Direct Taxes claimed that there has been a ‘substantial’ increase in the number of tax returns filed this year ( April 1 – Aug 5, 2017 ) on account of demonetisation.
These first sentences from the CBDT press release are important and we will put them under a microscopic scrutiny in the next few paragraphs.
As a result of demonetization and Operation Clean Money, there is a substantial increase in the number of Income Tax Returns(ITRs) filed. The number of Returns filed as on 05.08.2017 stands at 2,82,92,955 as against 2,26,97,843 filed during the corresponding period of F.Y. 2016-2017, registering an increase of 24.7% compared to growth rate of 9.9% in the previous year. – CBDT
An objective, data driven assessment of the first part of the CBDT Press Release reveals some interesting findings. The below table has been pulled out from the Income-tax department website and it shows a comparative analysis of the number of e-returns filed between Financial Years 2012-13 to 2016-17. The data has been culled only for the period April 1 – August 30 for these 4 years, because that is roughly the period which concerns this latest press release issued by the CBDT.
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