Who are taxpayers in India ( Income Tax India,1961)
September 18, 2019
Taxpayers in India
The Income Tax Department has recently released the statistics on total taxpayers in India. As per the data released by the Government – there were 6,68,09,129 persons or entities that filed an income tax return in FY2017-18 (AY2018-19) against 8,45,14,539 persons/entities registered for income tax efiling.
Tax Return Filed by Type
The following table shows the number of returns filed in each of the financial year with break-up of income tax return filed by type. The reduction in total number of tax returns filed in FY2018-19 is on account of the changes to the Income Tax rules which prohibited filing of returns pertaining to FY2017-18 or FY2016-17 in FY2018-19.
| ITR Return Type | FY 2016-17 | FY 2017-18 | FY 2018-19 |
| ITR-1 | 2,14,55,515 | 2,90,67,029 | 3,17,00,240 |
| ITR-2 (Till AY 2016-17) | 21,89,065 | 3,76,948 | 43,752 |
| ITR-2 (From AY 2017-18) | – | 46,55,177 | 47,77,808 |
| ITR-2A (For AY 2015-16 & 2016-17) | 16,72,759 | 3,13,934 | 5,460 |
| ITR-3 (Till AY 2016-17) | 9,66,823 | 1,75,896 | 9,584 |
| ITR-3 (From AY 2017-18) | – | 99,08,934 | 1,25,11,740 |
| ITR-4S (Till AY 2016-17) | 1,18,57,709 | 44,95,327 | 77,283 |
| ITR-4 (Till AY 2016-17) | 1,23,90,871 | 29,85,995 | 1,21,011 |
| ITR-4 (From AY 2017-18) | – | 1,27,61,551 | 1,47,73,246 |
| ITR-5 | 12,61,922 | 15,12,496 | 15,57,596 |
| ITR-6 | 8,01,115 | 9,38,620 | 9,62,573 |
| ITR-7 | 2,72,258 | 2,82,997 | 2,68,836 |
| Total | 5,28,68,037 | 6,74,74,904 | 6,68,09,129 |
Number of Income Tax Filers in India
The Income Tax Department divides income tax filers into Ranges based on the total income of tax filer.
Range 1 = Income upto Rs.5 lakhs
Range 2 = Income between Rs.5 lakhs and Rs.10 lakhs
Range 3 = Income between Rs.10 lakhs and Rs.20 lakhs
Range 4 = Income between Rs.20 lakhs and Rs.50 lakhs
Range 5 = Income between Rs.50 lakhs and Rs. 1 crore
Range 6 = Income above Rs. 1 crore
Based on the above, the number of income tax filers in India are as follows:
| Category | Range 1 | Range 2 | Range 3 | Range 4 | Range 5 | Range 6 |
| Association Of Persons | 1,77,940 | 4,974 | 2,824 | 1,882 | 934 | 1,766 |
| Body Of Individuals | 5,644 | 215 | 102 | 60 | 38 | 59 |
| Company | 6,99,180 | 40,504 | 40,376 | 45,528 | 27,618 | 54,523 |
| Firm | 11,27,002 | 84,481 | 57,698 | 44,618 | 20,682 | 18,152 |
| Government | 298 | 2 | 2 | – | – | 5 |
| Hindu Un-divided Family | 9,74,393 | 1,48,054 | 43,174 | 12,606 | 2,579 | 1,344 |
| Artificial Juridical Person | 9,362 | 224 | 133 | 98 | 53 | 161 |
| Local Authority | 3,219 | 44 | 38 | 34 | 18 | 81 |
| Individual | 4,58,52,470 | 1,02,69,396 | 29,66,222 | 11,16,771 | 2,05,704 | 1,02,637 |
| Trust | 2,59,502 | 4,478 | 1,911 | 1,330 | 588 | 1,443 |
| Total | 4,91,09,010 | 1,05,52,372 | 31,12,480 | 12,22,927 | 2,58,214 | 1,80,171 |
Hence, there are nearly 5 lakh taxpayers with income less than Rs.5 lakhs in India.
State-wise Income Tax Filers
The top state with the highest number of Income Tax filers in the country was Maharashtra, followed by Gujarath, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal occupying the top five places. Mizoram had the lowest number of tax filers at 2938.
| MAHARASHTRA | 10686533 |
| GUJARAT | 6604451 |
| UTTAR PRADESH | 6072493 |
| TAMILNADU | 4537303 |
| WEST BENGAL | 4229356 |
| RAJASTHAN | 4128911 |
| KARNATAKA | 3919473 |
| DELHI (UT) | 3643349 |
| PUNJAB | 3067644 |
| MADHYA PRADESH | 2635445 |
| HARYANA | 2481249 |
| TELANGANA | 2259002 |
| ANDHRA PRADESH | 2210878 |
| KERALA | 1718799 |
| BIHAR | 1708091 |
| JHARKHAND | 1116353 |
| ORISSA | 1112074 |
| CHHATTISGARH | 1065714 |
| ASSAM | 847417 |
| UTTARAKHAND | 781893 |
| HIMACHAL PRADESH | 525045 |
| JAMMU & KASHMIR | 459613 |
| CHANDIGARH (UT) | 272594 |
| GOA | 232948 |
| PONDICHERRY (UT) | 97833 |
| TRIPURA | 86334 |
| MANIPUR | 52700 |
| FROM STATES OUTSIDE INDIA | 49892 |
| ANDAMAN AND NICOBAR ISLANDS (UT) | 40818 |
| MEGHALAYA | 37465 |
| DADRA & NAGAR HAVELI (UT) | 35970 |
| ARUNACHAL PRADESH | 23065 |
| DAMAN & DIU (UT) | 21839 |
| NAGALAND | 21318 |
| SIKKIM | 16682 |
| LAKSHADWEEP (UT) | 4647 |
| MIZORAM | 2938 |
Mode of Income Tax Filing
The income tax department offers both online and offline modes for income tax filing. However, eFiling of income tax return had the best growth and was more preferred by taxpayers.
| ITR | AY 2017-18 | AY 2018-19 | Increase(%) |
| ITR-1 Offline | 1,24,45,410 | 1,40,29,763 | 12.73 |
| ITR-1 Online | 1,26,01,260 | 1,71,37,194 | 36 |
| ITR-1 Sub Total | 2,50,46,670 | 3,11,66,957 | 24.44 |
| ITR-2 | 46,55,177 | 46,12,120 | -0.92 |
| ITR-3 | 99,08,934 | 1,21,49,205 | 22.61 |
| ITR-4 Offline | 90,02,867 | 96,91,849 | 7.65 |
| ITR-4 Online | 37,58,684 | 46,84,053 | 24.62 |
| ITR 4 Sub Total | 1,27,61,551 | 1,43,75,902 | 12.65 |
| ITR-5 | 13,15,360 | 15,03,185 | 14.28 |
| ITR-6 | 8,19,063 | 8,92,103 | 8.92 |
| ITR-7 | 2,23,549 | 2,40,114 | 7.41 |
| Total | 5,47,30,304 | 6,49,39,586 | 18.65 |
Number of People Not Filing Income Tax Return
As on 31/3/2019 there were nearly 8.45 crore taxpayers registered for Income Tax eFiling on the Income Tax portal. However,
No of Registered Users as on 31/03/2019 8,45,14,539
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