Fifty-six per cent of Indians who file tax returns late are below 30 years of age, according to a report of Delhi-based e-return intermediary TaxSpanner.com. Only 17 per cent of them are above 36. The report, India Tax Ratio 2012, covered employees from 500 companies and banks in major cities, including the Delhi NCR, Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore and Hyderabad. The report reveals 50 per cent of Indians file returns in the last month, or July (46 per cent file returns in the last week of July); 41 per cent of men file late, in comparison to 46 per cent of women.
Bangalore has the highest number of late filers at 39 per cent, followed by the National Capital Region (NCR) at 24 per cent.
Hyderabad and Chennai contribute nine per cent. Also, while 45 per cent in Bangalore file after the third week of July, only 39 per cent in the NCR do so.
Ankur Sharma, CEO, TaxSpanner.com, says, "Late filing does not reflect complexity in financials. Around 96 per cent of late filers had no other income except salary."
The survey says among men, those in the NCR have the best tax ratio of five per cent, even at an average income of Rs 6 lakh. Those in Bangalore have the worst tax ratio of eight per cent, at an average income of Rs 7 lakh.
Females in Chennai are the best tax planners. Even at an average income of Rs 4 lakh, their average tax ratio is two per cent, much lesser than their counterparts, as well as males, in other cities.
The average tax ratio of the salaried earning Rs 5-10 lakh is nine per cent; only 0.6 per cent have zero tax ratio. Tax ratio is the percentage of gross salary paid as tax.
