49% of India's taxpayers yet to file ITR; 29% struggle to meet July 31 deadline: Survey

As the July 31 deadline for filing Income Tax Returns (ITR) approaches, 49% of taxpayers are yet to file their ITR for the 2023-24 financial year, citing issues with the income tax portal as the reason for the delay, according to a recent survey by LocalCircles. Besides, 29% of taxpayers express difficulty in filing by July 31.

The survey notes that over 4 crore returns have been filed, according to the Income Tax Department, as of July 22, representing an 8% increase from the same period in 2023. While time constraints and obtaining necessary documents were common problems, the primary issue was navigating the tax portal. Taxpayers reported problems such as system glitches, slow response times, and data discrepancies.

The survey received over 38,000 responses from taxpayers located in 311 districts of India. 69% respondents were men while 31% respondents were women. 43% respondents were from tier 1, 26% from tier 2 and 31% respondents were from tier 3 and 4 districts.