Demonetisation, GST led to formalisation of economy: Arun Jaitley

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Tuesday said demonetisation and the Goods and Services Tax (GST) led to higher formalisation of economy resulting in higher direct tax revenue and greater number of income tax return filings. "The impact of demonetisation and GST implementation has resulted into higher formalisation of economy. This is further substantiated by filing of more than one crore (new) income tax returns by tax payers during FY 2017-18 in comparison to FY 2016-17," Jaitley tweeted.

According to the data released by the Finance Ministry on Monday, 6.84 crore returns were filed during 2017-18, significantly higher than 5.43 crore filed in the previous fiscal. "Direct tax collections for FY 17-18 has been Rs 10,02,607 crore (18 per cent higher than previous year)," Jaitley added.

"The data reveals the efficiency of the tax department and a rise in the number of honest tax payers. This historical revenue receipt is a factual testimony of accountable governance under Prime Minister Narendra Modi," he said.