New Delhi: Nearly 5.89 crore Income Tax Returns (ITRs) have been filed on the new e-filing portal of the Income Tax Department as on 31st December, 2021, the extended due date. More than 46.11 lakh ITRs were filed on 31.12.2021, said the Finance Ministry in a statement.

In order to assist taxpayers with a smooth experience on the portal, 16,850 taxpayer calls and 1,467 chats were responded to by the helpdesk. In addition, the Department has been proactively engaging with and reaching out to taxpayers and professionals for assistance on its official Twitter handle. On 31st December, 2021 alone, more than 230 Tweets from taxpayers and professionals were responded to.

Out of 5.89 crore ITRs filed for AY 2021-22 as on 31st December, 49.6 per cent of these are ITR1 (2.92 crore), 9.3 per cent are ITR2 (54.8 lakh), 12.1 per cent are ITR3 (71.05 lakh), 27.2 per cent are ITR4 (1.60 crore), 1.3 per cent are ITR5 (7.66 lakh), ITR6 (2.58 lakh) and ITR7 (0.67 lakh). Over 45.7 per cent of these ITRs have been filed using the online ITR form on the portal and the balance have been uploaded using the ITR created from the offline software utilities.

In comparison, as on 10th January, 2021 (the extended due date for ITRs for AY 2020-21), the total number of ITRs filed was 5.95 crore with 31.05 lakh ITRs filed on the last day, that is, on 10th January, 2021 as against over 46.11 lakh ITRs filed on the last day this year. The Department gratefully acknowledges the contribution of the taxpayers, Tax Practitioners, Tax Professionals and others who have made this possible, said the ministry. /BI/