New Delhi, Sep 1 (IANS): The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) on Sunday said that in a record number of Income Tax Returns (ITR) e-filings in a single day, a total of 49,29,121 ITRs were filed on Saturday, the last day for filing returns for 2019-2020.

"The Income Tax department has made history with a quantum jump in the e-filing of Income-Tax Returns (ITRs) with an all time high record of 49 lakh 29 thousand and 121 ITRs filed in a single day on 31st August 2019," a CBDT statement said.

"This has perhaps created a history as the tax administration nowhere in the world has achieved such huge online e-filing ITRs in a single day and that too so smoothly; with the IT department actively interacting with taxpayers on social media to help them resolve their grievances and e-filing related queries and getting accolades in return," it added.

The CBDT said that setting a new record in e-filing on August 31, 2019, the peak filing rate per second was at 196 ITRs and peak filing rate per minute was at 7,447 ITRs, while the peak filing rate per hour was at 3,87,571 ITRs.

The Information Security team of the IT department, meanwhile, thwarted over 2,205 malicious attacks on the website aimed at disrupting services in the peak period, it said.

In the statement, the board said that out of the 5.65 crore ITRs filed so far, 3.61 crore ITRs have been verified. Around 2.86 crore (79 per cent) taxpayers have opted for e-verification, mostly using Aadhaar OTP.