Lok Sabha Question No. 414 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2017-02-03
Subject: Income Tax Payers
Ministry: FINANCE
Asked by: NALIN KUMAR KATEEL, BHAIRON PRASAD MISHRA, B.N. CHANDRAPPA, DODDAALAHALLI KEMPEGOWDA SURESH, JAYSHREEBEN  PATEL

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF FINANCE DEPARTMENT OF REVENUE

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.414

TO BE ANSWERED ON FRIDAY, THE 3 rd  February 2017 14 MAGHA 1938 (SAKA)

## INCOME TAX PAYERS

## 414. SHRI NALIN KUMAR KATEEL:

SHRI BHAIRON PRASAD MISHRA:

SHRI B.N. CHANDRAPPA:

SHRI D.K. SURESH:

SHRIMATI JAYSHREEBEN PATEL:

Will the Minister of FINANCE be pleased to state:

- (a) the number of people filing return under the Income Tax in the country, slab-wise during the last three years along with the amount of revenue received for the said period;
- (b) whether only a few thousands of people are filing tax return and paying tax on their income and majority of the people are not brought in the ambit of tax net;
- (c) if so, the details thereof and the reasons therefor;
- (d) whether the Government is taking any steps to bring the people earning above the exemption of income limit under the Income Tax net and to reduce the burden of paying income tax on the existing income tax payers; and
- (e) if so, the steps taken/being taken by the Government in this regard?

## ANSWER MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF FINANCE

## (SHRI SANTOSH KUMAR GANGWAR)

- (a) The information regarding number of individuals who have filed return of income and amount of tax payable on returned income during last three years, slabwise, is as given under:-

## I. Number of individuals who filed returns of income during last three years, slabwise:-

|                                      | Number of returns filed by individuals   | Number of returns filed by individuals   | Number of returns filed by individuals   |
|--------------------------------------|------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------|
| Gross Total Income (Slabs)           | Assessment Year 2012-13                  | Assessment Year 2013-14                  | Assessment Year 2014-15                  |
| Upto ₹. 2.5 Lacs                     | 14930817                                 | 14711147                                 | 13715161                                 |
| Above ₹. 2.5 Lacs- Upto ₹. 5.0 Lacs  | 8414290                                  | 11517749                                 | 13847402                                 |
| Above ₹. 5.0 Lacs- Upto ₹. 10.0 Lacs | 3990042                                  | 5335378                                  | 6509561                                  |
| Above ₹.10.0 Lacs- Upto ₹.1.0 Crore  | 1553759                                  | 1976942                                  | 2392493                                  |
| Above ₹. 1 Crore                     | 36690                                    | 44078                                    | 48417                                    |
| Total                                | 28925598                                 | 33585294                                 | 36513034                                 |

## II. Amount of total tax payable as per returns of income filed by individuals during last three years, slabwise:-

| Tax                                  | Aggregate of Tax Payable reported in all returns within the slab (in ₹ Crore )   | Aggregate of Tax Payable reported in all returns within the slab (in ₹ Crore )   | Aggregate of Tax Payable reported in all returns within the slab (in ₹ Crore )   |
|--------------------------------------|----------------------------------------------------------------------------------|----------------------------------------------------------------------------------|----------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Payable (Slabs)                      | Assessment Year 2012-13                                                          | Assessment Year 2013-14                                                          | Assessment Year 2014-15                                                          |
| Upto ₹. 2.5 Lacs                     | 33592                                                                            | 48411                                                                            | 56795                                                                            |
| Above ₹. 2.5 Lacs- Upto ₹. 5.0 Lacs  | 16701                                                                            | 19126                                                                            | 24207                                                                            |
| Above ₹. 5.0 Lacs- Upto ₹. 10.0 Lacs | 15972                                                                            | 18615                                                                            | 22880                                                                            |
| Above ₹.10.0 Lacs- Upto ₹.1.0 Crore  | 33310                                                                            | 39568                                                                            | 47386                                                                            |
| Above ₹. 1 Crore                     | 12533                                                                            | 13780                                                                            | 39670                                                                            |
| Total                                | 112108                                                                           | 139500                                                                           | 190938                                                                           |

(b) & (c) The information of individuals filing returns of income and paying taxes on returned income is as stated in reply to Part (a) above.

In addition, it is stated that a large section of population of India is not liable to pay income-tax due to the reasons that agricultural income is exempt, the basic exemption threshold is quite high and a number of other exemptions and deductions are available under the law. Furthermore, a relatively small size of the workforce is actually engaged in economic activities.

(d) & (e) Government  has  taken  several  measures  for  widening  and  broadening  of  tax  payer base, including the following:-

- (i) The  Income  Tax  Department  has  implemented  the  Non-Filer  Monitoring  System  (NMS) which analyses and assimilates all in-house information as well as transactional data received from  third-parties,  including  Annual  Information  Return  (AIR),  Tax  Deduction  at  Source (TDS) and Tax Collection at Source (TCS) statements, Central Information Bureau (CIB) data etc.  to  identify  such  persons/entities  who  have  undertaken  high  value  financial  transactions but have not filed return. About 1.37 Crore non-filers with potential tax liability have been identified under NMS and more than 95 Lakh returns have been filed by the target segment and self-assessment tax of about ₹. 16,500 Crore has been paid.
- (ii) The mechanisms for collection and verification of financial information have been broadened and strengthened. These include collection of data in respect of various types of high-value transactions from banks and financial institutions and high-value expenditure from commercial  establishments  in  form  of  Statement  of  Financial  Transaction  (SFT).  Besides, various  legislative  measures  have  been  taken  to  increase  the  tax  base.  These  include expansion of scope of TDS and TCS by bringing more and more taxable transactions within their  ambit.  Moreover,  quoting  of  Permanent  Account  Number  (PAN)  has  been  made mandatory  for  all  transactions  above ₹ .2  lakh  and  for  specified  transactions  in  respect  of property, shares, bonds, insurance, foreign travel, demat account, etc.

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