More than 1.7 crore income tax returns (ITRs) have been filed so far for the assessment year (AY) 2026-27, the Income Tax Department said on Saturday.

"Over 1.7 crore taxpayers have already taken the smart step and filed their ITRs for A.Y. 2026-27," the department said in a post on X.

According to the department, more than 10 lakh returns were filed on Friday alone.

Moreover, the Income Tax Department has urged eligible taxpayers who are yet to file their returns to complete the process before the July 31 deadline to avoid a last-minute rush.

In May, the I-T Department enabled the filing of Income Tax Returns (ITRs) for the financial year 2025-26 (assessment year 2026-27) with the release of Excel utilities for ITR-1 and ITR-4 forms on e-filing portal, saying that taxpayers can now access both the Excel utility and online filing options for the two forms.

ITR-1 (Sahaj) is meant for resident individuals with an annual income of up to Rs 50 lakh from salary, one house property and other sources, including agricultural income of up to Rs 5,000 a year.

ITR-2 is applicable to individuals and Hindu Undivided Families (HUFs) that do not have income from profits and gains of business or profession but have income from sources such as capital gains.

Earlier, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) had notified the ITR forms for AY 2026-27 with revised disclosure norms.

The changes include additional reporting requirements related to long-term capital gains, losses from share buybacks and certain trading transactions.

Notably, India’s net direct tax collections surged 14.64 per cent (year-on-year) to Rs 5.21 lakh crore in the April 1-June 17 FY27, as per the Income Tax Department. In the meantime, gross direct tax collections increased 12.46 per cent to Rs 6.1 lakh crore from Rs 5.4 lakh crore from the year-ago period.