With government’s data showing a sharp increase in the number of tax returns filed in fiscal year 2017-18, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has stated that the Goods and Services Tax (GST) implementation and impact of demonetisation have resulted into higher formalisation of the Indian economy.
Jaitley added that this is further substantiated by filing of more than 1 crore new income tax returns by tax payers during FY18 as compared to the previous fiscal year and higher direct tax revenue. He also said that the data reveals the efficiency of the tax department and a rise in the number of honest tax payers.
As per the Finance Ministry data, income tax returns filed by tax payers during FY18 surged 26% to 6.84 crore as compared to 5.43 crore filed in FY17. Besides, in the financial year 2017-18, the direct tax collections hit the landmark figure of Rs 10.02 lakh crore, 18% higher than previous fiscal.
