Taxman has become less corrupt in last 12 months now, claims a survey

MUMBAI: Income tax and indirect tax officials may have been charged with increasing compliance burden but they seem to have become less corrupt in last one year, claims a survey conducted by Local Circles and Transparency International India.

“17% citizens said they believe bribery in tax-related matters has reduced in the last 12 months while 6% said it has increased. About 38% said it is continuing like before and 33% said they did not have a need to pay a bribe. The percentage of citizens who reported reduction in corruption by tax officials in 2019, was 3 times of those who said it had increased,” the survey read.

This survey comes at a time when the government is trying to introduce the faceless tax scrutiny. This would reduce the interaction between the tax payer and the taxman.


A total of 85 tax officials with charges of corruption have been removed or compulsorily retired by the Government since June this year, setting an example and working towards eradicating corruption from the tax department. Citizens also appreciated the introduction of pre-filled returns and faceless/e-assessment at as a replacement to in-person interaction with tax officers, according to the survey.

Approximately 190,000 responses were received across a series of questions at the national and state levels. Over 120,000responses were received in the national survey while over 70,000 responses were received in the state survey.