Only 2,200 professionals in India disclosed annual income above ₹1 crore

I-T Dept shares data on income tax returns for 2018-19 via tweets

The Income Tax Department took to microblogging site Twitter to reveal that about 2,200 professionals in India have announced their annual income above ₹1 crore. The department shared data on income tax return for financial year 2018-19.

“In the ITRs filed by individuals in the current financial year, only about 2,200 doctors, chartered accountants, lawyers, and such other professionals have disclosed annual income of more than ₹1 crore from their profession (excluding other incomes like rental, interest, capital gains, etc),” the I-T Department tweeted.

Burden on honest taxpayers

The series of tweets came a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi requested Indian citizens to pay their tax dues for the development of the country. He further mentioned that tax evaders increase the burden on those who diligently pay their taxes every year. He noted that it is unbelievable but true that only 2,200 people in the country had declared earnings of ₹1 crore per annum.

“Certain misinformation is being circulated in social media pertaining to individual return filers. CBDT clarifies: During the current financial year, 5.78 crore individuals filed returns disclosing income of the financial year 2018-19,” the I-T department said in a tweet.

The six-part tweet series disclosed the ITR filings of financial year 2018-19.

In the current financial year, 5.78 crore individuals filed returns disclosing income of the financial year 2018-19. Out of these,1.03 crore individuals showed income below ₹2.5 lakh and 3.29 crore individuals revealed taxable income between ₹2.5 lakh and ₹5 lakh. In all, 4.32 crore individuals disclosed income up to ₹5 lakh.

However, the Finance Act, 2019, exempts individual taxpayers having income up to ₹5 lakh. Hence, only around 1.46 crore individuals are liable to pay income tax.

Further, around one crore individuals disclosed income between ₹5 lakh and ₹10 lakh and only 46 lakh individual taxpayers disclosed income above ₹10 lakh. Only 3.16 lakh individual taxpayers disclosed income above ₹50 lakh while only 8,600 individuals revealed that their income is above ₹5 crore.