Income tax department short of 26,997 officers, support staff

The Income Tax Department is running short of 26,997 officers and support staff as of January 1, 2026, Parliament was informed on Monday.

“The vacancies in Group A, B&C in the Income Tax Department as on January 1, 2026, are 26,997. Occurrence and filling up of vacancies is a continuous process,” Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary said in a written response to the Lok Sabha.

As and when vacancies arise, such vacancies are filled regularly in accordance with the terms of the mode of recruitment prescribed in the relevant recruitment rules, namely direct recruitment through UPSC/SSC or through promotion as applicable, it added.

Further, the introduction of the New Income Tax Act, 2025, has resulted in a landmark development to simplify language, remove obsolete provisions and consolidate & restructure provisions, it said.

Measures have been taken to strengthen and modernise the tax administration by leveraging information and digital technology for ease of filing, faster processing of returns, data analytics and faceless assessments, he said.

Replying to another question, Chaudhary said 11 individuals have been declared as Fugitive Economic Offenders under the provisions of the Fugitive Economic Offenders Act, 2018 (FEOA) since 2024.

Properties worth Rs 1,303.16 crore have been confiscated under the provisions of the Fugitive Economic Offenders Act, 2018, pertaining to such offenders since 2024, he added.

Out of the above-mentioned fugitives, Red Notice has been published against 8 individuals, and extradition requests have been sent in respect of 4 individuals who were located, he said.

Moreover, he said 12 Mutual Legal Assistance Requests (MLARs) have also been sent. He further said that the necessary steps have been taken by the government to restitute the confiscated property to the legitimate victims of such economic offences.

So far, he said, the Directorate has successfully restored properties valued at approximately Rs 73,015.03 crore to victims or legitimate claimants, resulting in restitution of Rs 15,262.30 crore and Rs 32,677.97 crore during FY 2024-25 and 2025-26, respectively.

Moreover, he said that during the FY 2026-27 till date, an amount of Rs 9,873.11 crore has been restituted.

As per the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) Balance of Payments (BoP) statistics, he said, net private transfers, mainly representing remittances by Indians employed overseas, increased from $124.6 billion in 2024-25 to $144.8 billion in 2025-26.

Further, the net transfers increased from $9.4 billion in April 2025 to $16 billion in April 2026 despite the war, he said in a separate reply.