Lok Sabha Question No. 57 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2025-12-01
Subject: Income Tax Filings in West Bengal for Assessment Year 2024-25
Ministry: FINANCE
Asked by: Shri Jagannath Sarkar

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF FINANCE DEPARTMENT OF REVENUE

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 57

TO BE ANSWERED ON MONDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2025/AGRAHAYANA 10, 1947 (SAKA)

## 'Income Tax Filings in West Bengal for Assessment Year 2024 -25'

## 57. Shri. Jagannath Sarkar:

Will the Minister of FINANCE be pleased to state: -

- (a) The  total  number  of  Income  Tax  Return  (ITRs)  filed  by  residents  of  West  Bengal  in Assessment Year (AY) 2024-25, in the income categories of less than 5 lakh, 5 lakh to 7 lakh, 7 lakh to 12 lakh, more than 12 lakh, more than 1 crore and more than 10 crore;
- (b) The  corresponding  number  of  taxpayers  in  each  of  these  categories  as  compared  to previous assessment years;
- (c) Whether there has been an increase or decrease in tax filings from West Bengal;
- (d) The percentage of the total national direct tax from West Bengal and the manner in which it compares to other major states in the country; and;
- (e) The  measures  taken/being  taken  by  the  Government  to  expand  the  tax  base  in  West Bengal and encourage more compliance among high-income earners?

## ANSWER THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF FINANCE (SHRI PANKAJ CHAUDHARY)

- (a) & (b) The total number of Income Tax Returns (ITRs) filed by residents of West Bengal in Assessment Year (AY) 2024-25, in the Income category less than ₹ 5 lakh, ₹ 5 lakh to ₹7 lakh, ₹ 7 lakh to ₹12 lakh, more than ₹12 lakh, more than ₹1 crore and more than

₹ 10  crore  and  corresponding  number  of  taxpayers  in  each  of  these  categories  as  compared  to previous assessment years are given in the table below -

Table-1: Summary of ITRs in the state of West Bengal

| Sr. No.   | Range of Return- Income (Total Income)   | AY 2021- 22   | AY 2022-23   | AY 2023-24   | AY 2024-25   |
|-----------|------------------------------------------|---------------|--------------|--------------|--------------|
| 1         | Less than ₹ 5 lakh                       | 34,43,348     | 35,79,834    | 38,27,759    | 27,13,686    |
| 2         | ₹ 5 lakh to ₹ 7 lakh                     | 3,90,179      | 4,23,309     | 4,50,107     | 14,55,068    |
| 3         | ₹ 7 lakh to ₹ 12 lakh                    | 3,55,494      | 3,90,918     | 4,20,628     | 5,75,450     |
| 4         | More than ₹ 12 lakh to ₹ 1 crore         | 2,43,787      | 3,14,009     | 3,69,479     | 5,34,662     |
| 5         | More than ₹ 1 crore to ₹ 10 crore        | 8,852         | 12,362       | 13,471       | 18,048       |
| 6         | Greater than ₹ 10 crore                  | 878           | 1,258        | 1,362        | 1,719        |
|           |                                          | 44,42,538     | 47,21,690    | 50,82,806    | 52,98,633    |

- (c) As shown in Table -1 above in answer to query (a), Tax filings from West Bengal have shown a consistent increase over the past four assessment years. The total number of ITRs filed rose from 44.42 lakh in AY 2021-22 to 47.21 lakh in AY 2022-23, further to 50.82 lakh in AY 2023-24, and reached 52.99 lakh in AY 2024-25. This upward trend reflects steady year-onyear growth in return filing across income categories, with particularly notable increases in the middle- and higher-income brackets in the most recent year.
- (d) West Bengal contributed 3.14% of the national direct tax collection in FY 2023-24 and 2.89% in FY 202425, with net collections rising from ₹60,374.64 crore to ₹63,075.47 crore. While the state maintains a steady revenue contribution, its share remains moderate when compared with  major  tax-contributing  states  such  as  Maharashtra,  Karnataka,  Delhi,  Tamil  Nadu, Gujarat, and Haryana, which together account for a substantially larger portion of the national direct tax collections.
- (e) Measures  to  expand  the  tax  base  are  taken  by  the  Government  across  the  country.  These measures are not specifically confined to a particular state.   Accordingly, following measures have  been  taken  by  the  Government  to  expand  the  tax  base  and  compliance  across  the country:
- Pre-filling of Income-tax Returns: To make tax compliance more convenient, pre-filled Income  tax  Returns  (ITR)  have  been  provided  to  individual  taxpayers.    The  scope  of information  for  pre-filing  includes  information  such  as  salary  income,  bank  interest, dividends, etc.
- Updated  Return: Section  139(8A)  of  the  Income  Tax  Act  facilitates  the  taxpayer  to update his return anytime within four years from the end of the relevant assessment so that he can file an updated return by voluntarily admitting omissions or mistakes and paying an additional tax as applicable.
- Reduction in the Corporate tax rate: Starting from the Finance Act, 2016, the corporate tax  rates  have  been  gradually  reduced  while  phasing  out  the  exemptions  and  incentives available to the corporates to increase the tax base.
- Simplification of the Personal Income Tax: Finance Act, 2020 simplified the filing of Income Tax Returns by providing an option to individual taxpayers for paying income-tax at lower slab rates if they do not avail specified exemption and incentive.
- Black Money Act: To  curb  the  flow  of  black  money  stashed  abroad,  the  Black  Money (Undisclosed  Foreign  Income  and  Assets)  and  Imposition  of  Tax  Act,  2015  (the  Black Money Act) has been enacted, it increased the voluntary compliance in filing Income Tax Returns.
- Benami  Law: The  Benami  Transactions  (Prohibition)  Act,  1988  was  comprehensively amended  by  the  Benami  Transactions  (Prohibition)  Amendment  Act,  2016  to  enable confiscation of Benami Property and prosecution of benamidar and the beneficial owner.
- Expansion of scope of TDS/TCS: For bringing new taxpayers into the net of income tax department, scope of TDS/TCS was expanded by including huge cash withdrawal, foreign remittance, purchase of luxury car, e-commerce participants, sale of goods, acquisition of immovable property, remittance under LRS, purchase of overseas tour program package etc.
- Income  Tax  Department  has  implemented  Non-Filer  Monitoring  System  (NMS),  which assimilates and analyses taxpayer information, including information received from third parties to identify persons/entities who have undertaken high value financial transactions but have not filed their Income tax returns.

Table-2: Contribution of West Bengal in the Total National Direct Tax Collection and comparison to other major states

|   S. No. | State / UT        | Net Collection FY 2023- 24 (₹ Cr)   |   Share % | Net Collection FY 2024- 25 (₹ Cr)   |   Share % |
|----------|-------------------|-------------------------------------|-----------|-------------------------------------|-----------|
|        1 | Andhra Pradesh    | 26,066.46                           |      1.36 | 23,804.85                           |      1.09 |
|        2 | Arunachal Pradesh | 233.98                              |      0.01 | 150.60                              |      0.01 |

|   3 | Assam            | 7,510.93    |   0.39 | 6,819.31    |   0.31 |
|-----|------------------|-------------|--------|-------------|--------|
|   4 | Bihar            | 6,692.73    |   0.35 | 6,904.99    |   0.32 |
|   5 | Jharkhand        | 10,500.59   |   0.55 | 10,712.95   |   0.49 |
|   6 | Goa              | 3,867.43    |   0.2  | 4,515.85    |   0.21 |
|   7 | Gujarat          | 93,300.72   |   4.86 | 107,241.41  |   4.91 |
|   8 | Haryana          | 70,947.31   |   3.69 | 79,731.48   |   3.65 |
|   9 | Himachal Pradesh | 3,150.17    |   0.16 | 3,076.54    |   0.14 |
|  10 | Karnataka        | 2,34,098.39 |  12.18 | 2,61,528.83 |  11.97 |
|  11 | Kerala           | 23,966.92   |   1.25 | 27,974.60   |   1.28 |
|  12 | Madhya Pradesh   | 20,086.99   |   1.05 | 19,639.22   |   0.9  |
|  13 | Chhattisgarh     | 13,534.13   |   0.7  | 12,518.10   |   0.57 |
|  14 | Maharashtra      | 7,61,716.30 |  39.65 | 8,97,425.86 |  41.08 |
|  15 | Manipur          | 323.12      |   0.02 | 368.17      |   0.02 |
|  16 | Meghalaya        | 1,800.73    |   0.09 | 2,174.48    |   0.1  |
|  17 | Mizoram          | 81.78       |   0    | 74.46       |   0    |
|  18 | Nagaland         | 344.10      |   0.02 | 225.27      |   0.01 |
|  19 | Delhi            | 2,03,197.06 |  10.58 | 2,29,250.33 |  10.49 |
|  20 | Odisha           | 20,865.54   |   1.09 | 25,444.08   |   1.16 |
|  21 | Punjab           | 17,215.00   |   0.9  | 19,656.65   |   0.9  |
|  22 | Rajasthan        | 30,551.42   |   1.59 | 34,382.78   |   1.57 |
|  23 | Sikkim           | 287.83      |   0.01 | 292.17      |   0.01 |
|  24 | Tamil Nadu       | 1,27,067.17 |   6.61 | 1,32,368.09 |   6.06 |
|  25 | Tripura          | 417.38      |   0.02 | 387.29      |   0.02 |
|  26 | Uttar Pradesh    | 48,333.44   |   2.52 | 69,011.21   |   3.16 |
|  27 | Uttarakhand      | 15,861.49   |   0.83 | 2,629.65    |   0.12 |
|  28 | West Bengal      | 60,374.64   |   3.14 | 63,075.47   |   2.89 |
|  29 | Telangana        | 84,439.24   |   4.39 | 97,860.86   |   4.48 |

*****