On Twitter Minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs, Arun Jaitley, said "A significant aspect has been the increase of 682% in the returns by persons adopting the presumptive income scheme. Congratulations to all the tax payers and the Income Tax Department for the continuous efforts in making India a more tax compliant society."
August 31 was the last day for filing tax returns by salaried individuals and those with business or professional income without the need for audit.
Earlier analysts said that the surge could be because of the penalty clause introduced from assessment year (AY) 2018-19 under which filing returns after the August 31 deadline will attract a penalty of up to Rs. 10,000.
The deadline for filing the returns was extended last month for salaried individuals and those with business or professional income not requiring an audit to August 31 from July 31.