WebinarsNew
Deep DiveNew
Explore Business Standard
A record over 7.8 crore ITRs have been filed for assessment year (AY) 2026-27 till August 31, the income tax department said on Tuesday. Last year, over 7.3 crore income tax returns (ITRs) were filed by September 16, 2025, the extended deadline for filing returns for non-audit cases for AY 2025-26. " A record 7.8 crore+ ITRs have been filed for AY 2026-27 as on August 31,2026," the I-T department said in a X post. This also includes over 5.9 crore ITR-1 and ITR-2, which were filed by the due date of July 31. August 31, 2026, was the due date for filing ITRs for AY 2026-27 for taxpayers with business or professional income who are not subject to audit. If a taxpayer falls in the non-audit category, he/she can file the applicable ITR (ITR-3, ITR-4, ITR-5 or ITR-7). ITR-3 is filed by individuals and Hindu Undivided Families (HUFs) with income from a proprietary business or profession. ITR-4 is a simpler form that caters to small and medium taxpayers. ITR-5 is filed by firms and Lim
The income tax department has launched a drive to verify "suspicious" foreign remittances by entities with little or no reported business activity, the persons behind them, and the chartered accountants who issued tax determination certificates. Entities located in districts along India's land borders and remitting significant amounts of money abroad have also been covered in the exercise. The exercise has covered approximately 394 entities (including 117 entities located in land-border states), and 36 professionals, the department said in a post on X. "On August 18, the Department launched a nationwide detailed verification exercise to verify these (suspicious) foreign remittances, focusing on shell entities, the persons behind them, and the professionals who have issued Form 15CB certificates," the tax department said. The verification of suspicious foreign remittances follows data analysis and ground intelligence indicating significant overseas remittances by entities with littl
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Sunday urged the Income Tax department to work for the benefit of common people without making them run from pillar to post. She also went public with her disappointment at the "laidback" nature of government departments, which leads to illegal occupation or encroachments on government lands and underlined the need for integrity in conduct from all officials. Citing the challenges faced by the department in getting permissions to construct a building in the Nariman Point business district, which she inaugurated on Sunday, Sitharaman said these experiences, despite serving in the Indian Revenue Service (IRS), would have given them an idea of what the common man goes through. An IRS officer has the name of the Income Tax department behind him, a "powerful force to frighten people", Sitharaman reminded, adding that despite this, the officials had to run from pillar to post to get clearances from authorities to proceed with work on the 13-flo