Around 43.7 million income tax returns for FY'20 filed till December 28

Around 43.7 million income tax returns for fiscal 2019-20 (Assessment Year 2020-21) have been filed till December 28, the I-T department said on Tuesday

Around 4.37 crore income tax returns for fiscal 2019-20 (Assessment Year 2020-21) have been filed till December 28, the I-T department said on Tuesday.

With just three days left for the deadline for income tax return (ITR) filing for individuals to end, the tax department asked taxpayers not to wait and file returns early.

"Over 4.37 crore Income Tax Returns for AY 2020-21 have already been filed till 28th of December, 2020. Hope you have filed yours too! If not filed as yet, don't wait. File your #ITR for AY 2020-21 TODAY!, the Income Tax department tweeted.

This includes over 2.44 crore taxpayers filing ITR-1, over 95.64 lakh filing ITR-4, over 53.12 lakh ITR-3 and over 32.30 lakh filing ITR-2.

The deadline to file I-T returns by individual taxpayers for 2019-20 fiscal (Assessment Year 2020-21) ends on December 31, 2020, while the same for taxpayers whose accounts require to be audited is January 31, 2021.

The due date has been extended from July 31and October 31, 2020, respectively in view of the COVID pandemic.

At the close of deadline for filing ITR without payment of late fees for fiscal 2018-19 (assessment year 2019-20), over 5.65 crore returns were filed by taxpayers. The deadline last year was extended till August 31, 2019.

Giving a comparative analysis of the ITRs filed, the Income Tax department said 4.51 crore ITRs were filed till August 28, 2019, compared to 4,36,62,150 returns filed till December 28, 2020.

Returns in ITR-1 Sahaj can be filed by an ordinarily resident individual whose total income does not exceed Rs 50 lakh, while Form ITR-4 Sugam is meant for resident individuals, HUFs and firms (other than LLP) having a total income of up to Rs 50 lakh and having presumptive income from business and profession.

While ITR-3 and 6 are filed by businesses, ITR-2 is filed by people having income from residential property; ITR-5 is filed by LLP and Association of Persons (AoPs) . ITR-7 is filed by a person in receipt of income derived from property held under trust or other legal obligation wholly for charitable or religious purposes or in part only for such purposes.