India’s taxation regime saw a significant shift as taxpayers submitted around 6 crore income tax returns for the 2023-24 fiscal year. Revenue Secretary Sanjay Malhotra on Tuesday revealed that a majority of the taxpayers shifted to the new tax regime.
Addressing a post-Budget session of the PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the official said that about 70 per cent of these income tax returns were filed under the simplified new tax regime, reported Economic Times. This represents a major shift in the taxation mentality of the Indian public.
The secretary noted that earlier there were doubts about whether Indian taxpayers would easily adopt the new tax regime, however, these concerns have now been eliminated. Malhotra said that the increase in uptake of this system now signals an acceptance for the new regime amongst the public.
In the session, Malhotra stated, “About 6 crore filed for last year and 70 per cent is under the new income tax regime. The whole move has been towards simplicity with the ultimate purpose being to reduce the compliance burden.”
Also Read : Are Indian Start-Ups Over The Layoffs Wave? Check The Details Here
Notably, in the preceding 2022-23 fiscal year (FY23), about 8.61 crore ITRs were submitted. Going ahead, the authorities aim to introduce a detailed review of income tax laws as mentioned in the recent Budget 2024. The Revenue Secretary in the session said, “We will come up with a draft and then we will seek suggestions.” He stated that the government will come out with a draft of the revised tax laws soon and will seek feedback from the public to help refine the tax system on its own.
The Secretary further stressed that this tax regime would help ease out the compliance burdens for the taxpayers and make taxation easy for individual taxpayers. Notably, the government further introduced revisions to the tax slabs in the new regime in the latest Budget 2024.