Number of crorepati taxpayers up 20%

A year after demonetisation, nearly one lakh individuals have reported an income of ₹1 crore or more in their Income Tax Returns. This is 20 per cent more than the number of crorepatis who filed returns in the previous year, according to official data released on Friday. During the same period, the number of persons who paid an income tax of ₹1 crore or more also went up by 20 per cent.

According to updated data released by the Income Tax Department, the number of individuals showing gross total income of ₹1 crore or more rose to 97,689 in the assessment year 2018-19 (fiscal year or FY2017-18) from 81,344 in the AY 2017-18 (FY 2016-17). There were also three individuals who showed gross income of ₹500 crore or more during AY 2018-19, up from just one in the previous year. In terms of tax payment, over 16,700 individuals paid tax of ₹1 crore or more as against nearly 14,000 individuals in the year before.

Nearly 13.74 lakh people paid short-term capital gain tax of over ₹23,000 crore while 4.24 lakh people paid long-term capital gain tax of ₹67,047 crore. The Income Tax Department has made public income distribution data up to AY 2018-19 (financial year 2017-18) and time series data up to financial year 2018-19. Income distribution data is critical as it is the first after year of demonetisation (announced on November 8, 2016).

Overall out of 5.87 crore returns selected for the study during AY18-19, nearly 2.37 crore assessees (all categories including businesses) paid zero tax. This means 40 per cent of the assessees did not pay a single rupee while there are 99 assessees (companies only) who paid over ₹1.69 lakh crore which is over 21 per cent of total tax collected during the year. In terms of companies, over 8.41 lakhs returns were filed for AY18-19, showing a gross income of over ₹ 14.73 lakh crore. There are 526 companies which paid tax of ₹ 100 crore or more. Also, there are more than 3.73 lakh companies which did not pay any tax.