Can you guess the number of people in India who declared a tax liability in their income tax returns last year, i.e. Assessment Year 2022-23 (AY 2022-23)? What if the answer is roughly equal to the population of Delhi?

       Surprised? Well, don't be.

       74 million tax returns were filed in AY 2022-23. This data was disclosed in the Parliament on Monday. Of these 74 million income tax returns, 51.6 million had zero tax liability.

       In other words, only 22.4 million people filed non-zero income tax returns in AY 2022-23. And Delhi's population is 21.4 million, according to government projections.

       Maharashtra accounted for the largest number of returns filed at 3.9 million. Uttar Pradesh was second with 1.9 million, while it was 1.8 million for Tamil Nadu. The top five states accounted for nearly half of all returns filed. Only nine states and union territories had more than a million non-zero returns. Other than those mentioned above, it included Karnataka, Gujarat, Delhi, West Bengal, Rajasthan and Telangana.

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