More than 80% growth in number of returns filed in last four financial years: CBDT

New Delhi, Oct 24 (KNN) There is a growth of more than 80% in the number of returns filed in the last four financial years from 3.79 crore in FY 2013-14 (base year) to 6.85 crore in FY 2017-18, revealed Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT)

The direct taxes data released by CBDT showed that there is a constant growth in direct tax-GDP ratio over last three years and the ratio of 5.98% in FY 2017-18 is the best DT-GDP ratio in last 10 years.

Also, there has been continuous increase in the amount of income declared in the returns filed by all categories of taxpayers over the last three Assessment Years (AYs), said CBDT.

Highlighting the income-distribution data for AY 2016-17 and AY 2017-18 CBDT revealed that the return filers had declared gross total income of Rs.26.92 lakh crore, which has increased by 67% to Rs.44.88 lakh crore for AY 2017-18, showing higher level of compliance resulting from various legislative and administrative measures taken by the government, including effective enforcement measures against tax evasion.

The total number of taxpayers (including corporates, firms, HUFs, etc.) showing income of above Rs. 1 crore has also registered sharp increase over the three-year horizon.

 While 88,649 taxpayers disclosed income above Rs. 1 crore in AY 2014-15, the figure was 1,40,139 for AY 2017-18 (growth of about 60%).

Similarly, the number of individual taxpayers disclosing income above Rs. 1 crore increased during the period under reference from 48,416 to 81,344, which translates into a growth of 68%.

Also, number of persons filing return of income has also increased by about 65%during this period from 3.31 crore in FY 2013-14 to 5.44 crore in FY 2017-18, as per CBDT data.