According to Revenue Secretary Sanjay Malhotra, throughout the last ten years, India’s direct tax collections have climbed from Rs 5.59 lakh crore to Rs 20 lakh crore annually, while the tax-to-Gross Domestic Product (GDP) ratio has increased from 5.6% to 6%.
During his speech on Income Tax Day, he added that the Income Tax Department’s emphasis on technology use was similar to international approaches to enhance taxpayer services.
He emphasized the quicker rate of operation of the tax department by stating that 4.98 crore ITRs (income tax returns) have already been processed and notifications have been sent to taxpayers out of the 7.28 crore income tax returns for Assessment Year 2024–25 that were filed up until July 31, 2024.
“Of this, 3.92 crore ITRs were processed in less than 15 days,” he said.
He said that the Income Tax Department had doubled the tax base and that the adoption of the faceless regime, e-verification, and seamless e-filing had made compliance easier for taxpayers.
The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) Chairman, Ravi Agrawal, noted in his inaugural address that the Department has been concentrating on improving taxpayer services and utilizing technology to make compliances easier throughout the years. Agrawal provided a summary of some of the accomplishments from the previous fiscal year, pointing out that net collections increased by 17.7% and that the number of ITRs filed increased by 7.5% from the previous year (till July 31, 2024).
Agarwal went on to say that 72% of the returns were submitted under the New Tax Regime, demonstrating the broad acceptability of the policy. First-time filers’ 58.57 lakh submissions were a good indicator of the tax base’s expansion.
Along with highlighting accomplishments in the field of advance pricing agreements—125 APAs were signed in the most recent fiscal year—he also mentioned the Department of Justice’s commitment to expanding its global reach with the operationalization of the 10th Income Tax Overseas Unit in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
The CBDT Chairman emphasized the significance of reviewing the Income-tax Act, 1961 while highlighting the Department’s emphasis on technological advancement, citing the approval of new iterations of the CPC-TDS, ITBA, and TAXNET programs.
