Income Tax Department has, over the years, focusedon several measures to ensure ease in compliance oftaxpayers and transparent tax administration. In line withtransparency in its functioning, the Department hadreleased the Time Series Data of Direct Taxes and IncomeTax Return statistics, in various tranches, from time totime.
The data shows that the number of ITR filings hasshown a consistent upswing over the last few years. Thereturns filed by individual taxpayers have increased from3.36 crore in Assessment Year (AY) 2013-14 to 6.37 crorein AY 2021-22 registering an overall increase of 90%.During the current fiscal too, 7.41 crore returns have beenfiled for AY 2023-24 till date, including 53 lakh new firsttime filers. This is an indication of the widening of tax basesubsequent to various reform measures put in place bythe Department.
In fact, while the overall number of returns ofindividual taxpayers has shown an increase over theyears, there is also an increase in number of returns filedby individual taxpayers across various ranges of grosstotal income:
(i) In the range of gross total income upto Rs. 5 lakh,thenumber of returns filed by individualtaxpayers has increased from 2.62 crore in AY2013-14 to 3.47 crore in AY 2021-22 registeringan increase of 32%. This range of incomeincludes individuals having income below taxablelimit who may not be filing returns.
(ii) In the range of gross total income of Rs. 5 lakh toRs. 10 lakh, and Rs. 10 lakh to Rs. 25 lakh, thenumber of returns filed by individual taxpayersfrom AY 2013-14 to AY 2021-22 has registered
an increase of 295% and 291% respectivelyThis indicates that individual taxpayers are showing apositive trend of migration to higher range of gross totalincome.
A further analysis of the gross total income ofindividual taxpayers for AY 2013-14 and AY 2021-22 alsoshows that:
(i) The proportionate contribution of gross totalincome of top 1% individual taxpayers vis-à-visall individual taxpayers has decreased from15.9% in AY 2013-14 to 14.6% in AY 2021-22.
(ii) The proportionate contribution of gross totalincome of bottom 25% individual taxpayers vis-àvis all individual taxpayers has increased from8.3% in AY 2013-14 to 8.4% in AY 2021-22.
(iii) The proportion of gross total income of middle74% group of individual taxpayers increased from75.8% to 77% in the above period.
(iv) The average gross total income for individualtaxpayers increased from about Rs. 4.5 lakh inAY 2013-14 to about Rs. 7 lakhAY 2021-22representing an increase of 56%. The increase inaverage gross total income for top 1% individualtaxpayers is 42% while that for bottom 25%individual taxpayers is 58%.
The above data is clearly indicative of a robust growthin the gross total income of individuals across differentincome groups subsequent to AY 2013-14. The overallimpact has been reflected in increase in net direct taxcollections from Rs.6.38 lakh crore in FY 2013-14 to Rs.16.61 lakh crore in FY 2022-23. This has been madepossible due to the taxpayer friendly and taxpayer orientedprogressive policies adopted by the Government. TheDepartment is committed to ensure transparency inprocesses, efficiency in administration and concertedefforts at building trust with taxpayers and stakeholders.
(Surabhi Ahluwalia)
Pr. Commissioner of Income Tax (Media and Technical Policy) & Official
Spokesperson, CBDT
Read more at: Income Tax Department’s shares latest update regarding Income Tax Return