NEW DELHI: Income-tax returns filed so far this year hit the five crore mark on Thursday evening, a rise of over 60% compared with filings a year ago. This points to improved compliance and augurs well for government finances .Today, August 31, is the last day for filing tax returns by salaried individuals and those with business or professional income without the need for audit.The final number of tax filers will rise further given the usual last-minute scramble. Over 20 lakh returns were filed on Thursday.While the authorities believe that a part of the rise was on account of persuasion and education of taxpayers, the government’s decision to impose a penalty on anyone filing after the August 31 deadline has also resulted in more people filing returns on time. The deadline to file returns had been extended by a month to August 31.Earlier, the government allowed returns for the previous financial year to be filed until March-end without imposing any penalty. By the end of the last financial year 6.8 crore returns were filed.The number of people filing returns is substantially higher than the number of people who pay income tax — more than a crore returns declare zero tax liability.Tax officials claim that the rush to meet the deadline could also be an indication of improvement in compliance because of demonetisation of old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes in November 2016.The government is facing fresh attack on the efficacy of demonetisation after the Reserve Bank of India revealed on Wednesday that 99.3% of the scrapped notes had been deposited in banks.Tax experts believe that this year, many businessmen have also been forced to file returns or disclose higher income for fear of being tracked based on the GST payments and returns.