I-T says no inconsistency in various estimates of taxpayers

The income-tax department on Friday put to rest the controversy over the so-called inconsistency in the estimates of the number of taxpayers added after demonetisation.

In a statement, the department said that there was no inconsistency in the data provided by the government in multiple statements because these were in different contexts and for various periods.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi mentioned in his Independence Day speech that an additional 5.6 million people filed personal income tax returns from April 1 to August 5, 2017, compared to 2.2 million people in the corresponding period last year. Volume 2 of the Economic Survey said that 540,000 new taxpayers were added after demonetisation and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley stated in May this year that 9.1 million taxpayers had been added to the tax net as a result of action taken by the income-tax department. Also, in a reply to an un-starred question in the Rajya Sabha earlier this month, it was stated that 3.3 million taxpayers had been added to the tax net after demonetisation.

The department said the Prime Minister’s speech referred to the increase in the number of e-filed personal income tax returns (ITRs) filed from April 1 to August 5 this year over those filed in the corresponding period of earlier years.

The data maintained by the I-T Department show that during this period 27.9 million ereturns of individual taxpayers were received as against 22.3 million e-returns received a year ago. The number was expected to rise because more taxpayers were still to file their returns, it said. “Thus, the additional ITRs received in 2017 works out to be 5.6 million. During the same period of 2015, 20 million e-returns were received, meaning thereby, that in 2016, only 2.2 (rounded off) additional e-returns were received by the due date of filing,” it said. The analysis given in the Economic Survey is based on the data for the period November 9 to March 31 of 2016-17 and the corresponding periods of the last two financial years. Moreover, the growth in the number of taxpayers discussed in the Survey is based on the number of new taxpayers, assuming the previous year’s growth rate to be the reference rate. On the other hand, the growth in the number of individual return-filers referred to in the PM’s speech is with respect to new as well as old taxpayers.

“Thus, the data used in the Economic Survey is different from data referred to in PM’s speech in respect of the period of filing as well as the type of taxpayers and the two are not comparable,” the department said. Jaitley’s statement regarding the addition of 9.1 million taxpayers referred to the number of new returns filed during 2016-17 and therefore, it is neither comparable to the data in the PM’s speech nor to the data in the Economic Survey because the periods are different as also the taxpayers.

The reply in the Rajya Sabha mentioned that during November 9, 2016, to March 31, 2017, the number of ITRs filed was 19.6 million against 16.3 million during the corresponding period of the previous financial year (2015-16). “Therefore, the number of additional returns filed during this period works out to be 3.3 million. However, this data cannot be compared with the other data. The data referred to in Economic Survey is with regard to new taxpayers or first-time return filers only whereas the data provided in the Rajya Sabha Question was in respect of all returns filed,” the department said.