3.61 Crore Out Of 5.65 Crore Returns Verified: Income Tax Department

The Income Tax Department has said about 4.93 lakh income tax returns were filed on August 31, the last date for assessees to file their income tax returns against the income earned in financial year 2018-19 (assessment year 2019-20). The Income Tax Department also said that the number of single-day filings of income tax return on August 31 this year rose 41.03 per cent on a year-on-year basis, from 34.95 lakh on August 31, 2018. In a series of Tweets, the taxman also said that the total number of ITRs filed from April 1 to August 31 this year rose 4.22 per cent to 5.65 crore compared to the corresponding period a year ago. (Also read: PAN to be created automatically if tax return filed using Aadhaar)

Out of the 5.65 crore income tax returns filed so far this financial year, 3.61 crore had been verified. A large number of taxpayers - about 2.86 crore - opted for e-verification "mostly using Aadhaar OTP" (one-time passcode), the Income Tax Department added. (Also read: How to verify filed income tax return using Aadhaar)

The Income Tax Department notified a peak filing rate of 196 ITRs per second, 7,447 ITRs per minute, and 3,87,571 ITRs per hour.

The Income Tax Department had earlier this year extended the due date for assessees to file their returns for financial year 2018-19 by a month to August 31.

Last Month, the Income Tax Department said that an order circulating on social media about an extension in the due date for assessees to file their income tax returns (ITR) was "not genuine", and that income tax returns must be filed by the existing deadline of August 31.

With the August 31 deadline now behind, assessees can still file belated income tax returns for the income earned in financial year 2018-19. However, filing a belated income tax return attracts a penalty up to Rs 5,000 till December 31, and Rs 10,000 till March 31, 2020.

According to current income tax laws, the amount of late filing fee cannot exceed Rs. 1,000 if the assessee's total income is below Rs 5 lakh.