Lok Sabha Question No. 70 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2019-11-18
Subject: Filing of Income Tax Returns
Ministry: FINANCE
Asked by: Prasun Banerjee

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF FINANCE DEPARTMENT OF REVENUE

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 70

TO BE ANSWERED ON MONDAY THE 18 th  November 2019 27, KARTIKA 1941 (SAKA)

## FILING OF INCOME TAX RETURNS

## 70. SHRI PRASUN BANERJEE :

Will the Minister of FINANCE be pleased to state:

- (a) the total number of people in the country who file income tax return;
- (b) the number of income tax payers in the country during the last ten years, year-wise; and
- (c) the details of steps which have been taken to increase the taxbase in the country?

## ANSWER THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF FINANCE (SHRI ANURAG SINGH THAKUR)

- (a) A total of 6.33 crore persons (including business entities) had filed income-tax returns in FY 2018-19.
- (b) The number of taxpayers under income-tax for the last ten Assessment Years (AY) is as follows:

| Assessment Year   |   Number of Taxpayers (in Crores) |
|-------------------|-----------------------------------|
| 2009-10           |                              3.63 |
| 2010-11           |                              4.13 |
| 2011-12           |                              4.37 |
| 2012-13           |                              4.73 |
| 2013-14           |                              5.26 |
| 2014-15           |                              5.7  |
| 2015-16           |                              6.14 |
| 2016-17           |                              6.92 |
| 2017-18           |                              7.43 |
| 2018-19           |                              8.46 |

Note: A  "Taxpayer"  is  a  person  who either  has  filed  a  return  of  income  for  the  relevant Assessment  Year or  in  whose  case  tax  has  been  deducted  at  source  in  the  relevant Financial Year but the taxpayer has not filed the return of income.

- (c) Widening  of  Tax  base  is  a  core  function  of  the  Income  Tax  Department,  for  which various measures have been taken, notably:-
- (i) The  Income  Tax  Department  has  implemented  the  Non-  Filer  Monitoring System(NMS)  which  assimilates  and  analyses  in-house  information  as  well  as transactional data received from third- parties, including Statement of Financial Transaction  (SFT),  Tax  Deduction  at  Source  (TDS)  and  Tax  Collection  at Source  (TCS)  statements,  Intelligence  and  Criminal  Investigation  (I&CI)  data etc.  to  identify  such  persons/entities  who  have  undertaken  high  value  financial transactions but have not filed their returns.
- (ii) The mechanism for collection and verification of financial information has been broadened to include data in respect of various types of high-value transactions from banks and financial institutions and high-value expenditure from commercial establishments in the form of Statement of Financial Transactions (SFT).
- (iii) The  scope  of  TDS  and  TCS  has  been  expanded  by  bringing  more  taxable transactions within their ambit.
- (iv) Quoting of Permanent Account Number (PAN) has been made mandatory for all transactions  above  rupees  two  lakh  and  for  specified  transactions  in  respect  of property, shares, bonds, insurance, foreign travel, demat account etc.
- (v) Media  campaign,  awareness  meetings  and  outreach  programs  are  conducted  to make  citizens aware of their tax obligations and consequences of noncompliance.

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