The Income Tax Department has in the month of July collected around 161,000 IT returns from tax payers in Bangalore, Pramod Kumar, Chief Commissioner of Income Tax, Bangalore-I said on Friday.

Speaking to reporters, he said the figure (as on July 26) was expected to touch 3,75,000 by July 31, the scheduled closing date for filing returns.

“In the last July, the figure was 3,29,000. During the previous financial year, we had collected around 4, 28,000 returns,” Kumar said. The Chief Commissioner called upon assessees to ensure that they come with copies of PAN cards to avoid queues at the PAN verification counters set up at the Commissionerate office in CR Building on Queen’s Road.

The tax returns, through the new ITR forms, are being collected in three ranges: 13 (government/PSU employees), 14 (private sector/salaried) and 15 (bank employees/pensioners). While special counters have been set up for ranges 13 and 15 on the ground floor, returns in range 14 are being collected on the fourth floor. These special counters are in addition to the regular receipt counters at the Income Tax office, HMT Building, Bellary Road.

Regarding the possibilities of an extension to the July 31 deadline, Kumar said representations in this connection had already been moved and the final decision will be taken by the Central Board of Direct Taxes.

The Karnataka and Goa Circle of the Commissionerate is tipped to clock Rs 24,000 crore as tax revenue this year.
Elaborating on the Commissionerate decision to exclude post offices from collecting IT returns, Kumar said the post office employees were not equipped enough to handle the returns and as a result, the IT Department had to deal with many errors.

TAXING FIGURES
*Offices open on Saturday and Sunday
*24 special counters for three ranges
*10 PAN verification centres
*1,700 returns collected till July 26 through e-filing
*Tax Return Preparers for assistance (up to Rs 250 per return)