Sixteen taxpayers reported annual salary in excess of ₹100 crore in 2021-22 assessment year compared with eight in corresponding period of preceding year, marking a doubling in the number of such billionaires, official data showed.
While combined salary income of these 16 people was a little over ₹2,569 crore, their average annual income was ₹160.57 crore, the data showed.
Combined salary income of all individual assesses in 2021-22 assessment year was ₹24.57 lakh crore, about one-third of the total sum of all types of income that include property, business, long-term capital gains and others at ₹74.45 lakh crore. An assessment year reflects income earned in the preceding financial year.Citing time series data between 2013-14 and 2021-22 assessment years, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) on Thursday said the proportionate contribution of gross total income of top 1% individual taxpayers vis-à-vis all individual taxpayers has, however, seen a declining trend. HT reported it on Friday.
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{{/usCountry}}Interestingly, the total number of such billionaires in 2021-22 was still lower than 20 super salary earners in 2019-20 assessment year. Income-tax return statistics for 2021-22 were generated from e-filed returns captured in system up to March 31, the board said. An ITR is a prescribed form through which a person intimates particulars of income earned and taxes paid on such income in a financial year to the income-tax department. CBDT is an arm of the finance ministry. Out of total 67.5 million ITRs filed in AY 2021-22 involving a total gross income of ₹69.6 lakh crore, 589 assesses had shown total income of over ₹ 500 crore, with a combined gross total of ₹13 lakh crore.
“The objective of publishing these statistics is to encourage wider use and analysis of income-tax data by departmental personnel and academicians,” the income-tax department said. In such cases where more than one return is submitted, the values in the latest return have been considered, it said, adding that returns with inconsistent data were eliminated. For AY 2021-22, 67.6 million e-returns were checked against consistency rules and 67.5 million returns meeting the consistency rules were used for the statistical analysis.
The statistics relating to sources of income have been prepared on the basis of values mentioned in e-filed returns and values captured from paper returns and the same may contain data entry errors on the part of the return filers. Therefore, accuracy of statistics is limited by accuracy of returns, the department clarified.