New Delhi:As per the latest figures from the Income Tax Department, over 7.28 crore Income Tax Returns (ITRs) were filed for Assessment Year (AY) 2024-25 by July 31.
This marks a 7.5 percent increase from the 6.77 crore ITRs filed by the same date in 2023 for AY 2023-24. The department observed a significant shift towards the New Tax Regime this year. Of the total 7.28 crore ITRs, 5.27 crore were filed under the New Tax Regime, compared to 2.01 crore under the Old Tax Regime. Therefore, about 72% of taxpayers have chosen the New Tax Regime, while 28% continue with the Old Tax Regime.
On July 31, the filing deadline for salaried taxpayers and other non-tax audit cases, a record 69.92 lakh ITRs were submitted on a single day. During this peak period, the e-filing portal also achieved its highest per-hour filing rate, with 5.07 lakh ITRs processed between 7:00 pm and 8:00 pm.
Additionally, 58.57 lakh ITRs were filed by first-time filers within July 31, reflecting an expanded tax base. Of the 7.28 crore ITRs for AY 2024-25, the breakdown is as follows: 45.77 percent were ITR-1 (3.34 crore), 14.93 percent were ITR-2 (1.09 crore), 12.50 percent were ITR-3 (91.10 lakh), 25.77 percent were ITR-4 (1.88 crore), and 1.03 percent were ITR-5 to ITR-7 (7.48 lakh).
Despite numerous social media reports about slowdowns on the income tax portal, the department confirmed that the e-filing system managed high traffic effectively during peak times. On July 31, the portal recorded 3.2 crore successful logins.