New Delhi, May 7 (KNN) The Ministry of Finance has issued clarifications pertaining to decline in numbers of Income Tax Returns (ITR) e-filers, saying that figures for ITR e-filed during the financial year (FY) 2018-19 are "not comparable" with 2017-18.

"This is factually untrue, because the figures for FY 2017-18 and FY 2018-19 are not directly comparable," it said in a statement.

The statement comes in response to media reports pertaining to reduction in numbers of ITRs e-filed during financial year 2018-19 as compared to FY 2017-18.

Issuing clarification, Ministry said that during FY18, out of a total of 6.74 crore ITRs which were e-filed, 5.47 crore ITRs were filed for Assessment Year (AY) 2017-18 (the current year).

In comparison, during FY 2018-19, a total of 6.68 crore ITRs were e-filed which included 6.49 crore ITRs of current A.Y. 2018-19 marking an increase of almost 19%. This would imply that substantially larger number of taxpayers filed their ITRs electronically in the FY 2018-19 as compared to FY 2017-18.

Furthermore, during FY 2017-18, apart from the returns for the A.Y. 2017-18, nearly 1.21 crore ITRs were filed for A.Y. 2016-17. The balance number of ITRs filed for A.Y. 2015-16 and prior AYs is 0.06 crore. In comparison, during F.Y. 2018-19 only 0.14 crore ITRs for A.Y. 2017-18 were filed.

Thus, the apparent decrease in the number of ITRs filed during FY 2018-19 pertaining to earlier years was due to an amendment in Section 139(5) of the Income-tax Act, 1961 brought in vide Finance Act, 2017, w.e.f. 01.04.2018, which mandated that a revised return could be furnished only up to the end of the relevant Assessment Year, it stated.

As a result, only 0.14 crore ITRs pertaining to A.Y. 2017-18 were filed during FY 2018-19 as these were the revised ITRs for the relevant A.Y. which could only be filed due to change in law and no other ITR of any earlier A.Y. could be filed in view of the amended provisions of law.

It is also stated that the number of paper ITRs for AY 2017-18 was only 9.2 lakh (1.5% of total ITRs filed) and the number of paper ITRs for A.Y. 2018-19 is 4.8 lakh (0.6% of total ITRs filed).

As per the above details, it is evident that most of the taxpayers have steadily switched to e-filing which is clear from the dwindling numbers of paper returns filed for AY 2018-19 compared to earlier years, it added.