Goods and Services Tax (GST) led to the higher formalization of the economy resulting in higher direct tax revenue and a greater number of income tax return filings, finance minister Arun Jaitley said on Tuesday.

“The impact of demonetisation and GST implementation has resulted in the higher formalisation of an economy. This is further substantiated by the filing of more than one crore (new) income tax returns by taxpayers 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 % higher than the previous year),” Arun Jaitley added.

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

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