More than 82 lakh income taxreturns have been e-filed till Monday which is 40 per cent higher than the same period last year, the Finance Ministry today said. 

"On July 30, 2013, 6.23 lakh returns were e-filed till 6 pm. Record peak of more than 85,000 returns per hour has been achieved," the ministry said in a statement. 

Last date for filing income tax return for individuals and non-auditable cases is July 31, 2013.

The statement said that due to overwhelming response, some taxpayers have reported problems in accessing e-filing portal which is primarily due to network constrains of the local Internet service providers. 

The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has made it mandatory for salaried individuals earning up to Rs 5 lakh annually to file income tax returns. The tax department had expected a huge surge in the number of online filings. 

In the last two assessment years (2011-12 and 2012-13), CBDT had exempted salaried employees earning a salary of up to Rs 5 lakh annually and interest income on savingsaccount of up to Rs 10,000 from filing tax return. 

Assessees can transmit tax return data electronically by downloading ITRs, or through online filing. After that they have to submit the verification of the return from ITR-V for acknowledgement after signing to the Central Processing Centre. (Economic Times)