Government adds 80 lakh new tax assessees in 4 years to 2014-15

NEW DELHI: The government has added 80 lakh new tax assessees in four years (2011-12-2014-15) and by March-end 2015 number is estimated to be 5.16 crore, data released on Friday by the tax department showed. Nearly the entire expansion in the number of assesses was due to individual taxpayers.

Around 1.7 crore or over 54 per cent of all tax payers who filed returns, had zero tax liability. Of 1.3 crore individuals who paid income tax, 1.1 crore or about 85 per cent had tax liability of under Rs 1.5 lakh per annum, the data showed. Only 3 individuals paid tax of over Rs 100 crore, while 63 companies had tax bills of over Rs 500 crore.

The Income Tax Department released the time series data for 2000-01 to 2014-15, for the first time ever. Maharashtra topped the list of states with 39.9 per cent share in income tax collection in 2014-15, followed by Delhi with 13.1 per cent, Karnataka (8.7 per cent) and Tamil Nadu (6.4 per cent).

Between 2008-09 and 2014-15, Sikkim, Mizoram, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh and Nagaland were the top five states in terms of growth in income tax collections. The data is based on internal reporting of tax department or figures reported by Controller General of Accounts or data published by other government agencies along with PAN allotment statistics for 2013-14 and Income Tax Return Statistics for Assessment Year 2012-13 (FY 2011-12).

The government said the data will be periodically updated to make it as current as possible.

"The objective of publishing this statistics is to encourage wider use and analysis of income tax data by departmental personnel as well as various stakeholders including economists, scholars, students, researchers and academicians for purposes of tax policy formulation and revenue forecasting," the finance ministry said in a statement.

"Our government has taken the landmark decision of publishing the income tax data. It is a big step towards transparency and informed policy making," PM Narendra Modi said on Twitter. "Am sure this data will be used by researchers & analysts & lead to enhanced insights for policy making on taxation."