Number of PAN holders increased by 11% but filing of ITRs declined by 7.5% in Gujarat in 2018-19

New Delhi: The number of Permanent Account Number (PAN) holders has gone up by 11% from 2,31,66,632 in FY2017-18 to 2,57,18,319 in FY2018-19 in Gujarat. However, number of Income Tax Returns (ITRs) filed in the state has witnessed dip of 7.50% in the same period. As against 71,41,250 ITRs filed in FY2017-18, only 66,05,231 ITRs were filed in FY2018-19. Union Minister of Finance Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman provided the details in Rajya Sabha on June 25, 2019 while replying to the questions raised by RS MP Shri Parimal Nathwani.

The direct tax revenue collected from Gujarat has witnessed rise of nearly 9.3% in 2018-19, as per the statement of the minister. The amount of direct tax revenue collected from Gujarat has gone up from Rs 44,866.66 crore in FY2017-18 to Rs 49,021.69 crore in FY201819.

As per the statement of the minister, number of PAN holders increased to 2,31,66,632 in FY2017-18 from 2,00,58,232 in the previous year and number of ITRs filed also increased to71,41,250 in FY2017-18 from 57,61,485 in the corresponding period last year in State of Gujarat.

Shri Nathwani wanted to know about the number of PAN holders registered, number of ITRs filed, amount of income tax collected and how many searches and seizures conducted in last three years in Gujarat.

The minister also stated that number of PAN selected for scrutiny stood at 25,291, 26,807 and 29,085 in the last three financial years respectively. In Ahmedabad Division of Income Tax, the number of groups that were searched stood at 79, 29 and 31 respectively for last 3 financial years.

The minister also stated that Under the Act, a Search & Seizure action is followed by post-search investigations culminating into assessment. Appeals may be filed by the assessee against such assessments which get finalized at the level of High Court/Supreme Court. The result of investigation gets quantified only when the appeals etc. are finalized. In view of the above, the recovery of tax, from the search actions conducted cannot be quantified till al the quasi-judicial and judicial proceedings are finalized.

DeshGujarat