Only about one per cent of India’s population pays income tax but the number of effective I-T assessees has risen to ~5.17 crore in 2014-15, from 4.72 crore in 2012-13, according to government data.

 

A total of 2.87 crore individuals filed I-T returns for assessment year 2012-13, but 1.62 crore of them did not pay any tax - leaving the number of taxpayers at just about 1.25 crore.

 

The Centre has made public direct tax data for last 15 years. 

 

Data for individuals has been published only for FY13 assessment year, which shows taxes for income in financial year ended March 31, 2012. 

 

As many as 5,430 individuals paid income tax of over INR 1 crore. Out of this, the tax range was INR 1-5 crore for more than 5,000 individuals, resulting in a total outgo of INR 8,907 crore.

 

As per the data, total income tax collections rose nine-fold to INR 2.86 lakh crore in 2015-16, from INR 31,764 crore in 2000-01.

 

The data also showed that the bulk of individuals who filed I-T returns for the assessment year 2012-13 earned an annual salary between INR 5.5 lakh and INR 9.5 lakh.

 

The figures showed that around half of the I-T returns filed with the tax department did not have any tax payable at all in 2011-12 as their taxable income stood below the threshold.

 

Of the 30 states (including Delhi and Telangana), 14 posted a fall in the direct tax collection in 2014-15, according to the data. 

 

States including Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Haryana, Punjab, Uttarakhand and Chhattisgarh saw a decline in direct tax collections. 

 

Maharashtra remained the biggest source of tax at INR 2.7 lakh crore in 2014-15, followed by Delhi at INR 91,247 crore and Karnataka at INR 60,595 crore. #casansaar