75 lakh new tax-filers added to IT net this fiscal
About 75L new tax filers have been added to the income tax payers list in the country this fiscal till now. The target for the taxman is to add 1.25cr fresh tax filers by the end of FY 2018-19 that ends in March, as per a directive of the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT). CBDT frames policy for the Income Tax Department (ITD).
IT Department hopeful it'll achieve the target
"A number of policy and enforcement measures undertaken to check tax evasion are the reasons that can be attributed for achieving these numbers," a senior official said. "The department is hopeful that it will achieve the target of adding 1.25 crore tax filers as there are still few months left for the 2018-19 financial year to close," he added.
1.06 crore tax filers added last fiscal
The Income Tax Department, last fiscal, had added as many as 1.06 crore new tax filers to the income tax net during the 2017-18 financial year. A new income tax filer is defined as a person who is not included in the tax filing base at the beginning of the year, but who files the return during the year.
New I-T filer may not be called fresh taxpayer: Official
A new I-T filer may not be called a fresh taxpayer added to the net as a person may file their income return but may not pay tax as they can claim legitimate exemptions, the official had told earlier. However, once a filer is in the I-T database, there is a little chance that such a person's income remains anonymous, he had said.
There's scope for further widening of tax base: 2018-19 CAP
CBDT set the adding of 1.25cr new tax filers target this fiscal when it issued Central Action Plan (CAP) for the IT Department early this year. "The Indian economy is growing at a rapid pace. Considering the increased economic activities both in organized as well as unorganized sectors, there is a scope for further widening of the direct tax base," the 2018-19 CAP said.
CAP acts as the vision document for I-TD
"The Board (CBDT) has fixed an overall target of adding 1.25 crore new return filers during the current financial year," the CAP for 2018-19 said. The CAP acts as the vision document for the Income Tax (I-T) Department and is published by the CBDT annually.
Region-wise targets of the Income Tax Dept
As per the target, the department's northwest region (Haryana, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, and J&K) was asked to add the maximum filers at 11,48,489, followed by Pune region at 11,33,950 and Tamil Nadu region at 10,36,645. Andhra Pradesh and Telangana regions have to get 10,40,218 new filers. Gujarat (9,88,101) and Karnataka and Goa regions (7,95,626) follow the tally apart from the 12 other I-T regions.
