"Bangalore city leads in terms of late filers at 39% followed by NCR at 24%. On the other hand, people from Hyderabad and Chennai contribute about 9% each to the late filers," says a study by TaxSpanner.com, an online tax filing portal.

"Of the total return filers in Bangalore, about 45% file their returns after third week of July. However, only 39% of the return filers in NCR region file their returns post 3rd week of July," the study states.

Although most companies give their Form 16 in the months of May or June, almost 46% of salaried employees file their taxes in last week of July.

The study points out that late filing was not a function of complexities associated with the tax filing process or their financials. Around 96% of late filers had no other income except salary.

The study also did a comparison of tax filing behaviour based on gender.

The gender based tax ratio composition indicates that females earning an average income of Rs 5 lakh per annum are paying lower taxes than their male counterparts earning an average annual income of Rs 6 lakh due to lower tax slabs and better investments.

Tax ratio is tax paid by an individual divided by the gross salary

"Females in Chennai are best tax planners. Even at an average income of Rs 4 lakh, their average tax ratio is only 2%, much lesser than their counterparts as well as males in other cities," TaxSpanner mentioned in its study.

Among males, those in NCR have the best tax ratio of 5%, even at an average income of Rs 6 lakh. Those in Bangalore have the worst tax ratio of 8%, at an average income of Rs 7 lakh.

Even though salaried employees in Mumbai are earning 40% more than their counterparts in Chennai and NCR, they are paying lower portion of their salary as tax. (Economic Times)