Over five crore income tax returns (ITR) for the financial year ended March 2021 have been filed so far, the I-T department said on Wednesday.

"More than five crore income tax returns for AY 2021-22 filed till 5:45 pm today!" the income tax department tweeted.

The department has already extended the deadline for individual taxpayers to file income tax returns, by five months till December 31, 2021.

For the financial year 2019-20, 5.95 crore ITRs were filed till the extended deadline of January 10, 2021.

Taxpayers who have not e-verified their ITRs for the financial year 2019-20 can complete the verification process by February 28, 2022, as the income tax department has given a one-time relaxation to assessees.

According to law, an ITR, filed electronically without a digital signature, has to be verified electronically through Aadhaar OTP, or net banking, or code sent through demat account, pre-validated bank account and ATM within 120 days of filing the return.

Alternatively, taxpayers can send a physical copy of the ITR filed to the centralised processing centre (CPC) office in Bengaluru.