Two-thirds of ITR filers in FY25 had zero tax liability

Of the around 84 million people that filed income-tax returns in 2024-25 (up to December 31, 2024), 55.8 million had zero tax liability, government data showed, with only around a third of the filers paying tax.

- Rajeev Jayaswal

NEW DELHI:

To be sure, this has been the trend since 2020-21, and the proportion of taxpayers has increased from 27.88% (full year 2020-21) to 33.55% in 2024-25 (till December 31 last year). It was 55% in 2019-20, when 64.7 million people filed returns, but the proportion fell sharply the following year.

While the ministry did not respond to requests for a comment on the drop, an official who spoke on condition of anonymity said the FY21 and FY22 were exceptional years because of the impact from the Covid-19 lockdowns.

"In subsequent years, the tax base has progressively expanded due to increasing nudges to people to file their ITR and because of ease of compliance," this person added.