Data reveals that as many as 11.34 lakh income tax returns were filed online from Gujarat in 2010-11, next only to Maharashtra's 18.71 lakh returns.
In the age of the Internet, no one likes to stand in long queues to pay utility bills or taxes. And Gujaratis are no exception. In fact, in the financial year 2010-11, Gujarat was second among states in the number of income tax returns filed online.
According to the findings of SNK ETax solutions Ltd, a total of 91.57 lakh I-T returns were filed online in 2010-11 with the maximum number of returns being from Maharashtra. This is understandable as Mumbai, the financial capital of the country, is situated in that state. But Gujarat has beaten states like Delhi, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka to be second in the number of returns filed online.
Data reveals that as many as 11.34 lakh income tax returns were filed online from Gujarat in 2010-11, next only to Maharashtra's 18.71 lakh returns. Delhi, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu followed with 8.99 lakh, 7.08 lakh and 6.44 lakh returns, respectively, to complete the top five. The number of returns filed from Manipur, Sikkim, Mizoram and Lakhshwadeep were less than 1,000 each.
Experts feel that Gujarat scores well because of the presence of a large number of SMEs and greater awareness among taxpayers.
"Mumbai being the finance capital of the country, Maharashtra is bound to have the largest number of returns filed online. But it is not surprising that Gujarat is second as people in the state are more aware about the process of filing returns. In the future, Gujarat might even top the country in filing tax returns online," said tax expert, KD Shah.
It is mandatory for all firms with a turnover of over Rs40 lakh to file income tax returns online. "The presence of a large number of SMEs, apart from corporates, is one of the key reasons why so many I-T returns are filed online from the state. In Delhi, which has a large number of corporates, the number of returns filed online is less than that of Gujarat as Delhi has fewer SMEs," said Mukesh Patel, an Ahmedabad-based tax expert.
In India, around 10 crore people have PAN cards but only half of them pay taxes. "There is a huge scope for growth in filing of income tax returns, especially online. In 2010-11, 91.75 lakh returns were filed online. This is projected to reach almost 750 lakh returns by 2015-16," said Sanjay N Kapadia, chairman, SNK ETax Solutions Ltd. SNK ETax runs a portal, Taxsum.com, to help individuals and corporates file their returns online.
In 2009-10, 15% of the total returns submitted were filed online. This jumped to 22.37% in 2010-11. Of the total 410 lakh returns filed in 2010-11, 91.75 lakh were filed online. SNK has projected that by 2013-14, of the 800 lakh returns expected to be filed, 62.5% would be filed online.
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