India’s Crorepati Tax Filers Multiply Fivefold, Hitting 230,000 In 10 Years: Report

The number of individuals with taxable incomes exceeding Rs 1 crore has reportedly surged fivefold to nearly 230,000 in the assessment year 2023-24 (FY23), up from 44,078 in 2013-14.

Rising Number of Taxpayers

According to a report by The Times of India, during the same period, the total number of taxpayers increased from 3.3 crore to 7.5 crore, reflecting a 2.2-fold rise.

Wealthy Salaried Taxpayers Dominate

According to the report, individuals with taxable incomes over Rs 1 crore accounted for nearly 52 percent of all salaried tax filers in the latest assessment year, compared to 49 percent in 2022-23 and 51 percent in 2013-14.

High-Income Brackets Flourishing

In the Rs 1-5 crore income bracket, 53 percent of the filers were salaried, while 23 individuals were in the over Rs 500 crore category, and 19 salaried taxpayers fell within the Rs 100 crore to Rs 500 crore range, the report added.

Record Tax-to-GDP Ratio

Moneycontrol reported last week that the country’s direct tax-to-GDP ratio hit a record high of 6.64 percent in the fiscal year 2023-24, marking a significant milestone in tax collection over the past decade.

Direct Tax Collections Surge

According to the latest ‘Time Series Data’ released by the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) on October 17, direct tax collections have surged by over 182 percent during the last decade, reaching more than Rs 19.60 lakh crore in FY24.

Corporate and Personal Tax Growth

CBDT ‘Time Series Data’ also added that the corporate tax collections more than doubled to over Rs 9.11 lakh crore in 10 years to the 2023-24 fiscal. Personal income tax mop-up grew close to four-fold to Rs 10.45 lakh crore during the period.

Tax Collections Under Modi Government

In the first year of the Modi government in 2014-15, direct tax collection was about Rs 6.96 lakh crore. This included about Rs 4.29 lakh crore of corporate tax and Rs 2.66 lakh crore of personal income tax.

Increase in Filed Returns

The number of income tax returns filed (including revised returns) increased from over 4.04 crore in the 2014-15 fiscal to over 8.61 crore in 2023-24.

The direct tax-to-GDP ratio increased from 5.55 percent in 2014-15 to 6.64 percent in 2023-24. Tax buoyancy, which measures revenue mobilisation efficiency with respect to GDP growth, increased from 0.86 to 2.12 in the 10 years.

Growth in Taxpayer Numbers

The number of taxpayers increased from 5.70 crore in Assessment Year (AY) 2014-15 to 10.41 crore in 2023-24 AY.