Gaurav Dhama

PROJECT REPORT ON
“A STUDY ON TAX LITERACY AND ITR FILING AWARENESS AMONG

SALARIED CLASS WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO CLEARTAX PVT LTD,
BANGALORE”
By,
GAURAV DHAMA
1MS17MBA21
UNDER THE GUIDANCE AND SUPERVISION OF
INTERNAL GUIDE EXTERNAL GUIDE

Dr. Vijaya Kumar G. Mr. Saurabh Singh
Assistant Professor Category Manager
Department of Management Studies, RIT ClearTax Pvt Ltd
SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT FOR THE AWARD OF
MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION
DEPARTMENT OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES,

RAMAIAH INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
(Autonomous Institute, Affiliated to VTU, Belgaum)
“VidyaSoudha”, MSR Nagar, Bangalore – 560054
2017-2019
CERTIFICATE
This is to certify that the project work entitled “A STUDY ON TAX LITERACY AND ITR
FILING AWARENESS AMONG SALARIED CLASS WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE
TO CLEARTAX PVT LTD, BANGALORE”, is a bonafide work carried out by GAURAV
DHAMA (1MS17MBA21) in a partial fulfillment for the award of the degree of Master of
Business Administration of Visvesvaraya Technological University, Belgaum as per the
academic requirements. This study has not formed a basis for the award of any degree by
Visvesvaraya Technological University or any other University.
Dr. Vijaya Kumar G. Dr. P.V.Raveendra Dr. N.V.R.Naidu
Project Guide HOD, Dept. of Management Principal

Studies
GAURAV DHAMA (1MS17MBA21)
Examiners: Signature with date
1.
2.
GUIDE CERTIFICATE
This is to certify that the project titled, “A STUDY ON TAX LITERACY AND ITR FILING
AWARENESS AMONG SALARIED CLASS WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO
CLEARTAX PVT LTD, BANGALORE” is submitted in partial fulfillment of the curriculum
of Masters of Business Administration course affiliated to Visvesvaraya Technological
University, Belgaum is a record of original work carried out by GAURAV DHAMA
(1MS17MBA21) under my guidance. This study has not been submitted for the award of any
degree by Visvesvaraya Technological University or any other university
Place: Bangalore Dr. Vijaya Kumar G.

Assistant Professor
Date:
Dept. of Management Studies
RIT, Bangalore - 560054
DECLARATION
I hereby declare that the Research Project title “A Study on Tax literacy and ITR
filing awareness among salaried class with special reference to ClearTax Pvt Ltd,
Bangalore” is submitted by me under the guidance of Dr. Vijaya Kumar G. as per
the requirement of the curriculum of Master of Business Administration of
RAMAIAH INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY (Autonomous institute, Affiliated
to VTU, Belgaum).
I also declare that this dissertation is of original research work. It does not form
part of any previous research project submitted to this university or any other
university.
Place: Bangalore GAURAV DHAMA
Date: 1MS17MBA21
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Any achievements, be it scholastic or otherwise does not depend only on the

individual efforts but on the guidance, encouragement and co-operation of
intellectuals, elders and friends. A number of personalities, in their own
capabilities have helped me in carrying out this project work. I would like to take
this opportunity to thank them all.
I am grateful to our RAMAIAH INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY for having

provided us facilities, which has made this project a success. I express my sincere
gratitude to our principal Dr . N. V. R Naidu for providing a congenial
environment and surroundings to work in.
I express my gratitude to Dr. P. V. Raveendra, Professor and Head of Department

of management studies, RIT, Bangalore, who has always been a great source of
inspiration.
I would like to thank Mr. Saurabh Singh for continuous support and guidance
given by him and his organization during the tenure of my project work.
Also, I would like to thank Dr. Vijaya Kumar G., Assistant professor, Department
of management studies, RIT, Bangalore, who helped me in various stages of
project, optimizing the report and making this project a success.
GAURAV DHAMA
1MS17MBA21
CONTENTS
GRAPHS ...................................................................................................................................................III
TABLES ................................................................................................................................................... IV
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ........................................................................................................................ 1
INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................................................... 3
INDUSTRY PROFILE............................................................................................................................... 4
FINTECH INDUSTRY ........................................................................................................................................ 4
BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY IN INDIA ....................................................................................................... 6
COMPANY PROFILE............................................................................................................................... 7
FOUNDERS .................................................................................................................................................. 8
VISION .......................................................................................................................................................... 8
PARTNERS ................................................................................................................................................... 8
COMPANY INFORMATION ....................................................................................................................... 9
PORTER’S FIVE FORCES ANALYSIS................................................................................................. 10
THREAT OF NEW ENTRANTS ................................................................................................................ 10
BUYER POWER ......................................................................................................................................... 10
SUPPLIER POWER .................................................................................................................................... 10
THREAT OF SUBSTITUTES ..................................................................................................................... 11
TOP COMPETITORS AND ALTERNATIVES.......................................................................................... 11
DEGREE OF RIVALRY ............................................................................................................................. 12
LITERATURE REVIEW ........................................................................................................................ 13
STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM ....................................................................................................... 16
OBJECTIVES .......................................................................................................................................... 17
HYPOTHESIS ......................................................................................................................................... 17
RESEARCH DESIGN .............................................................................................................................. 18
SAMPLING TECHNIQUE.......................................................................................................................... 18
Sources of data ........................................................................................................................................ 18
Sample size .............................................................................................................................................. 18
LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY ............................................................................................................... 19
CHARTS .................................................................................................................................................. 20
GENDER ........................................................................................................................................................ 20
AGE .............................................................................................................................................................. 21
MARITAL STATUS ......................................................................................................................................... 22
OCCUPATION ................................................................................................................................................ 23
YEARS OF WORK EXPERIENCE ....................................................................................................................... 24
TYPE OF EMPLOYMENT ................................................................................................................................. 25
ANNUAL INCOME .......................................................................................................................................... 26
DO YOU PAY TAXES?..................................................................................................................................... 27
YES I PAY TAXES. ......................................................................................................................................... 28
How much is your understanding of Tax? ............................................................................................... 28
How much is your satisfaction level with tax brackets? .......................................................................... 29
Why do you pay taxes? ............................................................................................................................ 30
How many Direct taxes are you aware of? .............................................................................................. 31
How many Indirect taxes are you aware of? ........................................................................................... 32
How much tax do you pay? ...................................................................................................................... 33
i
Satisfaction with taxes paid? ................................................................................................................... 34
DO YOU HAVE ANY INVESTMENTS? ............................................................................................................... 35
Investment Yes: ........................................................................................................................................ 36
What is the reason for investment? .......................................................................................................... 36
Does it provide any tax benefit? .............................................................................................................. 37
Willingness to investment in Tax saving options ..................................................................................... 38
Investment No: ......................................................................................................................................... 39
Why? ........................................................................................................................................................ 39
Are you aware of tax saving investments? ............................................................................................... 40
DO YOU FILE ITR? ........................................................................................................................................ 41
ITR NO ......................................................................................................................................................... 42
Why Not? ................................................................................................................................................. 42
Do you know the benefits of filing ITR?................................................................................................... 43
ITR YES: ...................................................................................................................................................... 44
How do you file? ...................................................................................................................................... 44
Mode of filing........................................................................................................................................... 45
How much is your level of satisfaction with filing procedure through IT website? ................................. 46
How long it takes to finish the return? .................................................................................................... 47
How satisfied are you with time spent on ITR filing? .............................................................................. 48
What are your sources of deduction? ...................................................................................................... 49
ARE YOU AWARE ITR CAN BE FILED IN LESS THAN 10 MINUTES USING CLEARTAX WEBSITE? ...................... 50
WHERE DID YOU LEARN ABOUT CLEARTAX? ................................................................................................ 51
DO YOU USE CLEARTAX? ............................................................................................................................. 52
CLEARTAX NO: ............................................................................................................................................ 53
Why? ........................................................................................................................................................ 53
Services offered awareness ...................................................................................................................... 54
Do you know it is authorized? ................................................................................................................. 55
Do you know ClearTax provides tax assistance? .................................................................................... 56
Will you use ClearTax? ........................................................................................................................... 57
CLEARTAX YES: ........................................................................................................................................... 58
Satisfaction in using ClearTax ................................................................................................................. 58
Satisfaction with time taken in ClearTax ................................................................................................. 59
How likely will you use ClearTax website again? ................................................................................... 60
How likely are you suggest it to others? .................................................................................................. 61
AWARENESS PROGRAMS ............................................................................................................................... 62
Mode of media ......................................................................................................................................... 63
SHOULD SOCIAL MEDIA PROMOTE IT? ........................................................................................................... 64
ARE YOU AWARE OF CHANGES IN FORM 16? ................................................................................................. 65
IF YES, HOW SATISFIED ARE YOU? ................................................................................................................. 66
HYPOTHESIS TESTING ........................................................................................................................ 67
TEST 1 .......................................................................................................................................................... 67
TEST 2 .......................................................................................................................................................... 70
TEST 3 .......................................................................................................................................................... 72
TEST 4 .......................................................................................................................................................... 75
TEST 5 .......................................................................................................................................................... 78
FINDINGS................................................................................................................................................ 81
SUGGESTIONS ....................................................................................................................................... 82
CONCLUSION ........................................................................................................................................ 83
LEARNING EXPERIENCE .................................................................................................................... 84
BIBLIOGRAPHY .................................................................................................................................... 85
APPENDIX: QUESTIONNAIRE ............................................................................................................... I
ii
GRAPHS
GRAPH 1 : GENDER _______________________________________________________________________ 20
GRAPH 2: AGE ___________________________________________________________________________ 21
GRAPH 3: MARITAL STATUS ________________________________________________________________ 22
GRAPH 4: OCCUPATION ____________________________________________________________________ 23
GRAPH 5: WORK EXPERIENCE _______________________________________________________________ 24
GRAPH 6: TYPE OF EMPLOYMENT ____________________________________________________________ 25
GRAPH 7: ANNUAL INCOME ________________________________________________________________ 26
GRAPH 8: DO YOU PAT TAXES? ______________________________________________________________ 27
GRAPH 9: LEVEL OF UNDERSTANDING OF TAX __________________________________________________ 28
GRAPH 10: TAX SLABS SATISFACTION ________________________________________________________ 29
GRAPH 11: REASONS FOR PAYING TAXES ______________________________________________________ 30
GRAPH 12: DIRECT TAXES AWARENESS _______________________________________________________ 31
GRAPH 13: INDIRECT TAXES AWARENESS______________________________________________________ 32
GRAPH 14: TAX PAID AMOUNT ______________________________________________________________ 33
GRAPH 15: TAX SATISFACTION ______________________________________________________________ 34
GRAPH 16: DO YOU HAVE INVESTMENTS? _____________________________________________________ 35
GRAPH 17: INVESTMENT OBJECTIVE __________________________________________________________ 36
GRAPH 18: INVESTMENT PROVIDES ANY TAX BENEFITS? __________________________________________ 37
GRAPH 19: WILLINGNESS TO INVEST IN TAX SAVING OPTIONS ______________________________________ 38
GRAPH 20: WHY NO INVESTMENTS? __________________________________________________________ 39
GRAPH 21: TAX SAVING INVESTMENTS AWARENESS _____________________________________________ 40
GRAPH 22: DO YOU FILE ITR?_______________________________________________________________ 41
GRAPH 23: REASONS FOR NOT FILING ITR _____________________________________________________ 42
GRAPH 24: ITR FILING BENEFITS AWARENESS __________________________________________________ 43
GRAPH 25: METHOD OF FILING ITR __________________________________________________________ 44
GRAPH 26: MODE OF FILING ITR ____________________________________________________________ 45
GRAPH 27: IT WEBSITE FILING PROCEDURE SATISFACTION LEVEL ___________________________________ 46
GRAPH 28: TIME TAKEN TO FILE ITR _________________________________________________________ 47
GRAPH 29: TIME SPENT ON ITR FILING ________________________________________________________ 48
GRAPH 30: DEDUCTIONS AWARENESS ________________________________________________________ 49
GRAPH 31: CLEARTAX USP AWARENESS ______________________________________________________ 50
GRAPH 32: SOURCE OF CLEARTAX AWARENESS ________________________________________________ 51
GRAPH 33: DO YOU USE CLEARTAX? _________________________________________________________ 52
GRAPH 34: REASON FOR NOT USING CLEARTAX ________________________________________________ 53
GRAPH 35: CLEARTAX SERVICES AWARENESS __________________________________________________ 54
GRAPH 36: CLEARTAX IS A SAFE FILING PLATFORM AWARENESS ___________________________________ 55
GRAPH 37: CLEARTAX TAX ASSISTANCE SERVICE AWARENESS_____________________________________ 56
GRAPH 38: WILLINGNESS TO USE CLEARTAX___________________________________________________ 57
GRAPH 39: SATISFACTION LEVEL OF USERS OF CLEARTAX ________________________________________ 58
GRAPH 40: SATISFACTION WITH TIME TAKEN USING CLEARTAX ____________________________________ 59
GRAPH 41: WILLINGNESS TO USE CLEARTAX SERVICE AGAIN ______________________________________ 60
GRAPH 42: WILLINGNESS TO SUGGEST OTHERS _________________________________________________ 61
GRAPH 43: AWARENESS PROGRAM ENCOUNTER ________________________________________________ 62
GRAPH 44: MODE OF MEDIA ________________________________________________________________ 63
GRAPH 45: SHOULD SOCIAL MEDIA PROMOTE AWARENESS CAMPAIGNS? _____________________________ 64
GRAPH 46: FORM 16 CHANGES AWARENESS ____________________________________________________ 65
GRAPH 47: SATISFACTION LEVEL WITH CHANGES IN FORM 16 ______________________________________ 66
GRAPH 48 TEST 2 FREQUENCY GRAPH ________________________________________________________ 71
iii
TABLES
TABLE 1 TEST 1 ANOVA RESULTS __________________________________________________________ 67
TABLE 2 TEST 1 MEAN TABLE _______________________________________________________________ 68
TABLE 3 TEST 1 FREQUENCY DISTRIBUTION TABLE______________________________________________ 69
TABLE 4 TEST 2 CASE PROCESSING SUMMARY _________________________________________________ 70
TABLE 5 TEST 2 FREQUENCY DISTRIBUTION TABLE______________________________________________ 70
TABLE 6 TEST 2 CHI-SQUARE RESULTS _______________________________________________________ 71
TABLE 7: TEST 3 ANOVA RESULTS __________________________________________________________ 72
TABLE 8: TEST 3 MEAN TABLE ______________________________________________________________ 73
TABLE 9: TEST 3 FREQUENCY DISTRIBUTION TABLE _____________________________________________ 74
TABLE 10 TEST 4 ANOVA RESULTS _________________________________________________________ 75
TABLE 11 TEST 4 MEAN TABLE _____________________________________________________________ 76
TABLE 12 TEST 4 FREQUENCY DISTRIBUTION TABLE ____________________________________________ 77
TABLE 13: TEST 5 ANOVA RESULTS _________________________________________________________ 78
TABLE 14: TEST 5 MEAN TABLE _____________________________________________________________ 79
TABLE 15: TEST 5 FREQUENCY DISTRIBUTION TABLE ____________________________________________ 80
iv
A Study on Tax literacy and ITR filing awareness among salaried class with special reference to ClearTax Pvt Ltd, Bangalore
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
ITR filing is considered as a tax payment proof, which is contrary to the actual
purpose of ITR filing. ITR filing is for the purpose of declaring sources of income,
tax liability and details of tax paid.
Lack of knowledge about taxation may result in individuals paying more or less
than what they are liable to pay. Lack of awareness about ITR filing may cause
individuals from not declaring their income to the government. Also not filing
ITR may hamper them from receiving various benefits such as easy loan, visa
process etc.
This study was conducted with the purpose of finding the awareness of tax and
ITR filing among salaried class. The objective was to find if there exist any
relation between income level and ITR filing as well as tax awareness and
satisfaction. The research was conducted using snowball sampling consisted of
100 samples from Bangalore location.
The research data was collected using questionnaire consisting of 50 questions.

Data was analysed using graphs and tables; hypothesis was tested using ANOVA
and Chisquare test. This study found that:
• Most of the respondents pay taxes because it is mandatory to pay, failing

which can result in penalty
• It was found that the respondents are not satisfied with the amount of taxes
paid by them irrespective of the income earned by them.
• Among the non ITR filers 58.8% do not file because they believe it is not
required to file their ITR.
• Respondents are dissatisfied with the amount of time taken to file their
return.
DEPARTMENT OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES, RIT Page 1

The researcher suggests that
• More tax saving investments must be promoted over social media.
• ITR filing procedure must be improved to allow less time consumption in

filing ITR by an individual.
• ClearTax must promote more on mass media to penetrate into the market.
• Advertisements in various public gathering, festivals, sponsorships etc.

must be increased to increase awareness about ClearTax.
It is concluded that respondents have moderate knowledge regarding taxes. They

are aware of traditional taxes like income tax, GST, road tax, etc. and have low
awareness with non-traditional taxes such as stamp duty, entry tax, education cess
etc.
ITR filing is considered not necessary if taxes are not paid; this shows their lack
of understanding towards ITR filing. Respondents are dissatisfied with time taken
to file return.

INTRODUCTION
Income Tax Act was put into existence in 1961. It covers everything related to
tax. This includes levy, collection, administration and recovery of income tax.
India being a nation with substantial populace and individuals are engaged with
different sorts of exercises, Income Tax Act covers all the possible areas to levy
tax, collect tax and administer it.
The Income tax Act consists of various sections, each of which manages diverse
parts of tax collection in the nation.
To execute this Act Government of India has constituted various authorities.

These authorities are additionally responsible for smooth functioning and control
of Income Tax Department.
The supreme body that carries out all the statutory functions is Central Board of
Direct Taxes. CBDT likewise is responsible for formulation and implementation
of various policies with respect to direct taxes.
Central Government appoints Income tax authorities, whoever they feel is

appropriate. The Central Government can authorize the Board or a Director-
General, a Chief Commissioner or a Commissioner or a Director to appoint
income tax.
Although the taxes are levied and controlled by the government and tax
department, ITR filing process is not necessarily has to be done through
government. This gives an opportunity to business to simplify the process and
reduce the burden on the taxpayer as well as the government. This also provides
an opportunity to the businesses to provide financial advisory for a cost which
was not available on the traditional government portal.

INDUSTRY PROFILE
FinTech Industry
FinTech can be defined as per EY UK as “FinTechs are high growth organizations

combining innovative business models and emerging technologies to enable,
enhance and disrupt Financial Services. This definition includes startups, mature
companies and even non FS companies working in the digital finance space”.
FinTech services firms have changed the financial services in India. As per “EY
FinTech Adoption index 2017” India ranks at second in the world in adoption of
FinTech, after China that ranks first in the world. The major use is in the form of
mobile wallets and UPI payments. FinTech is utilized by some of the fast growing
sectors such as financial planning, savings and investments, borrowing and
insurance.
According to “EY FinTech Adoption index 2017” nearly 192 FinTech companies
were launched in 2014 in India which jumped to astounding 390 FinTech
companies launch in 2015, which is double of previous year.
Growth capital in world is shown in the table below.
Country Investments
London 825 million
Singapore 34.52 million
Hong Kong 160 million
Australia 675 million
Taxation support is a big industry which has adopted FinTech at great scale with
the growing trend. Tax payment, tax return filing, tax consultancy, tax audit etc.
has been made easy with the adoption of FinTech. Indian tax consulting market

grew by 9% in 2016 with the total revenue hitting approximately 42,500 crore
and another 9% in 2018 with revenue reaching 46,500 crore.
As per the research done by “Matt Sena” in United States of America 300,000
people are employed in this industry as tax return preparer working for
approximately 109000 firms. The revenue generated by just tax preparation
business was 9 billion in 2012 and 11 billion
Some of the major players in Taxation service field around the world are:
• Ernst and Young • 1040Now.net

• Deloitte • 1040.com
• PwC • exTaxReturn.com
• KPMG • File Your Taxes
• H&R Block • eSmart Tax
• TurboTax • Online Taxes (OLT)
• TaxAct • Tax Hawk
• Credit Karma Tax • Tax Slayer
• FreeTaxUSA • FreeTax.com
Below is the list of some of the top performing companies in India.
• H&R Block • MyITReturn

• VitteTax • HelloTax
• TaxSpanner • Tax2win
• ClearTax • Taxmantra
• TaxSmile • ChaiReturn
Tax preparation Business is a seasonal business with majority of the work being
during the tax filing period i.e. January to April 15 in USA and May to July 31 in
India.

BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY IN INDIA
With the growing number of tax payers in the country, the burden of handling
such huge numbers online leaves the government portal outdates. Some main
problems are:
• The approach of government portal is traditional where a taxpayer has to

spend lot of time in understanding his/her income sources and ITR forms
and then filling the details manually.
• Over use of the portal. With lakhs of taxpayers filing their ITR online can
cause the government portal to crash.
• Taxpayers are also not much aware of the tax benefits and investment
plans.
Seeing these problems as opportunities various companies have come up with

their own platforms using which a taxpayer can file their ITR. These companies
offer simplified process and less time consumption. Some of the companies are
ClearTax, Taxspanner, myITreturn, Taxsmile etc.

COMPANY PROFILE
ClearTax is one of the India’s largest ITR E-filing service providers, authorized
by Government of India, which is used by over 20 lakhs individuals across the
country. The company’s goal is to make ITR filing extremely easy for every
individual, with least number of steps involved.
ClearTax offers various products for different types of services, such as:
• ITR filing: ClearTax provide free service for e-filing the Income Tax
Returns of the individuals. This product is an online service which can be
accessed anywhere and anytime for free. It significantly reduces the time
and efforts taken by an individual in filing their ITR using any other
source.
• Tax Cloud: It is a software product which is available for purchase. This

software contains all the features of the ITR filing and some additional
services. It is India’s largest platform for Enterprise I-T return/TDS return
e-filing. Over 10,000 CAs use TaxCloudIndia filing their clients’ I-T
returns.
• CA assistance Plan
• GST
• Mutual Funds
ClearTax is a venture capital backed company with some of Silicon valley’s

biggest investors including YCombinator, which have invested in the likes of
Dropbox, Reddit, Airbnb, etc.

FOUNDERS
• Archit Gupta
• Srivatsan Chari
• Ankit Solanki
VISION
To make every citizen of India financially independent
PARTNERS
• Brands like IBM, Infosys, HCL, Wipro, Cognizant.
• Bank partners include Standard Chartered, Citibank, HDFC, and 25+ banks
• More than 50% employees from TCS use ClearTax to file their Income
Tax Returns.
• Partners with India’s biggest HRMS and Payroll Management companies

like ADP, Excelity etc.

COMPANY INFORMATION
Website Primary Industry Primary Office
www.cleartax.in Financial Software 2A, Ground Floor, 23

and 24
Ownership Status Other Industries
AMR Tech Park Internal
Privately Held (backing) Accounting, Audit and Tax Road Hongasandra
Services (B2C)
Bangalore, Karnataka
560068, India
Financing Status
Venture Capital-Backed

PORTER’S FIVE FORCES ANALYSIS
THREAT OF NEW ENTRANTS
This industry does not require large capital investment to start the business. Tax
filing can be done by anyone having some employees, by taking contracts from
established companies to file for their employees through online government
portal or by developing their own software to do the same. Developing a software
is the only capital investment required to start the business.
BUYER POWER
Customer/consumers are very price sensitive in India. Any small price difference
can cause a change in preference of buyer. Quality of service provided is also
important to have a trade-off between the quality and the price. Certain customers
prefer quality over price whereas large number of people prefer price over quality
as most of the Indian residents do not have complicated tax returns with various
incomes and deductions.
ClearTax provides its ITR filing platform for free to the tax payers with all the
benefits. ClearTax offers various other tools and softwares such as taxcloud,
GST, CA assist etc at a competitive cost.
SUPPLIER POWER
Supplier power is very high as the tax experts and CAs working with ClearTax
also look for higher remuneration/profits thus they can leave ClearTax and switch
to the other competitors for more remuneration/benefits. They can also work
independently as freelancer or can become a competitor to the firm. CAs has a
free say as to how much percentage of share of profit they are ready to accept to
work with ClearTax.

THREAT OF SUBSTITUTES
This threat is medium as the services provided by the competitors are similar to
ClearTax. Also anyone with various sources of income and deductions may feel
there is no much difference in the prices he/she may pay to take financial advices,
like HireCA.com, UrbanClap, JustDial etc. Thus the trust of the existing users of
ClearTax and the option to obtain all the services under one roof may in turn lead
to customer loyalty.
TOP COMPETITORS AND ALTERNATIVES
myITreturn is one of ClearTax's to competitors. myITreturn was founded in 2006,

and it’s headquarter is in Mumbai, Maharashtra. myITreturn operates in the
Business Information Research industry. myITreturn generates 23 lakhs rupees
less revenue than ClearTax.
TaxSpanner is seen as one of the ClearTax's biggest rival. TaxSpanner was

founded in 2007 in New Delhi, Delhi. TaxSpanner also competes in the Internet
Software space.
Taxsmile is one of ClearTax's top rivals. Taxsmile was founded in 2007, and is
headquartered in Bangalore, Karnataka. Taxsmile also works within the Internet
Software sector. Taxsmile generates 23 lakhs rupees less revenue vs. ClearTax.

DEGREE OF RIVALRY
The competition in this industry depends mostly on the brand image, awareness,
word of mouth and goodwill. The quality of service provided decides the
customer satisfaction and loyalty to the company. The prices charged for the
quality of service plays a major role in having an upper hand over competitors.
The USP of ClearTax to be able to file the return within 10 minutes and automated
process are one of the major player in it being the market leader as startup.

LITERATURE REVIEW
• ‘The Effect of Taxpayer Awareness, Knowledge, Tax Penalties and

Tax Authorities Services on the Tax Compliance’ by Nurlis Islamiah
Kamil used convenience sampling method by collecting the data from the
taxpayers visiting the Tax office. This study was carried out in Jabodetabek
and Bandung. The researcher used a sample size of 550. They found that
the ‘taxpayer’s awareness, knowledge, penalties and services has a
significant effect on individual taxpayer’s compliance.’
• ‘Tax Literacy and Tax Awareness Of Salaried Individuals in Sabah
and Sarawak’ by Amrizah Kamaluddin and Nero Madi used random
sampling technique by picking salaried taxpayer randomly in the city. They
found that majority of the salaried taxpayers are classified as just literate.
This means that the salaried class have moderate understanding of basic
tax knowledge
• ‘FINANCIAL LITERACY AND FINANCIAL PLANNING AMONG
TEACHERS OF HIGHER EDUCATION - ASTUDY OF CRITICAL
FACTORS OF SELECT VARIABLES’ by Dr. G. Surendar and Prof.
V.V. Subramanya Sarma used a sample of 354 respondents using
convenience samplings. This study was conducted in the colleges of higher
education in Warangal city. The study found that Retirement Planning,
Tax Planning & Control, Financial planning, Financial Capacity &
Inflation are critical factors in personal financial planning.

• ‘AN EMPIRICAL STUDY ON FINANCIAL LITERACY LEVEL OF

SALARIED FEMALES IN DIGITAL ERA’ by Jyoti Gupta and Manish
Madan used sample size of 200. The technique used for collecting research
data was convenience sampling. They found that there is an average level
of financial literacy among the salaried females of Delhi.
• ‘A Study of Awareness, Attitude and Factors influencing Personal
Financial Planning for Residents of Gujarat’ by Avni Tejas Patel used
sample size of 600. The method used for collecting the research data was
convenience sampling technique. She found that the people have good
understanding towards basic investment avenues and very low
understanding towards the non-conventional avenues.
• ‘Taxation as a component of Financial Literacy – How literate are
Australians in relation to taxation?’ by Toni Brackin used snowball
sampling technique to collect the data. A sample size of 604 was used. He
found that the people with more self-assessed confidence were more likely
to have higher tax literacy, he also found that the increase in interaction
with the workforce will increase tax literacy.
• ‘Influence of Tax Knowledge and Awareness on Tax Compliance
Among Investors in the Export Processing Zones in Kenya’ by Obongo
Matibe Bernard, Dr. Florence S. Memba and Dr. Oluoch Oluoch used
census technique to cover all 152 firms in Kenya. They found that firms
had a high likelihood of complying voluntarily if they have a high tax
knowledge and awareness.

• ‘TAX AWARENESS AND PERCEPTION OF TAX PAYERS AND

THEIR VOLUNTARY TAX COMPLIANCE DECISION:
EVIDENCE FROM INDIVIDUAL TAX PAYERS IN SNNPR,
ETHIOPIA’ by Niway Ayalew Adimasu and Wondwossen Jerene Daare
conducted a descriptive research using a sample of 377 individuals. They
found that tax awareness was the major problem for voluntary tax
compliance and most tax payers feel that the existing tax rate and penalty
rate are high and they also believed that existing tax system is unfair.
• ‘The role of taxpayer awareness, tax regulation and understanding in
taxpayer compliance’ by Yayuk Ngesti Rahayu, Margono Setiawan, Eka
Afnan Troena and Sudjatno. This study used questionnaires that cover
knowledge and understanding of tax regulations, taxpayer awareness, as
well as taxpayer compliance. This study concludes that the contribution of
knowledge and understanding of tax regulation leads to a better compliance
in the society.

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
Income Tax Return filing is an important form in which a taxpayer declares

his/her taxable income, deductions and tax payable (if any). ITR filing was made
easy by establishment of e-filing procedure. Although it was a great alternative
to offline filing with various advantages, the process of filing the ITR still
remained complicated and time consuming as various steps are involved in it. It
becomes hard for taxpayers to file their ITR without much knowledge of taxation
and awareness about ITR filing, as shown in the results of
• ‘A Study on Income Tax Payers Perception towards Electronic Filing’ by

(Gupta & Kumar, 2015)2
• ‘E-Filing of Income Tax returns: Awareness and Satisfaction level of

salaried employees’ by (Rajeswari & Mary, 2014)7
• ‘E-Filing of Income Tax Returns: Satisfaction level of Individual Tax

Payers in Udaipur District, Rajasthan’ by (Jain & Jain, 2017)3
Lack of knowledge about taxation may result in individuals paying more or less
than what they are liable to pay.
Lack of awareness about ITR filing may cause individuals from not declaring
their income to the government. Also not filing ITR may hamper them from
receiving various benefits such as easy loan, visa process etc.

OBJECTIVES
1. To find the consumer awareness towards tax.

2. To study the satisfaction level of respondents towards ITR filing.
3. To study the perception of consumers towards ClearTax.
4. To analyse various factors influencing tax compliance and ITR filing
HYPOTHESIS
1. There is no relationship between income and level of satisfaction of tax

paid.
2. There is no relationship between income and ITR filing.
3. There is no relationship between years of experience and satisfaction level
with taxes paid.
4. There is no significance difference between income and time spent in filing
ITR.
5. There is no relationship between age and time spent in filing ITR

RESEARCH DESIGN
The research design used to carry out the study is descriptive research which is
descriptive in nature. This design is used to understand and describe the present
state of awareness and perception of the salaried class of people. For the purpose
of conducting this research, data collection is carried out by using a questionnaire
with various close-ended questions and rating scale questions.
SAMPLING TECHNIQUE
Snowball sampling technique: In order to obtain genuine and required number

of responses snowball sampling technique was used to collect the data as the
study consists of only salaried class and it is easier and reliable to obtain genuine
financial data through reference of a friend/relative.
Sources of data
Primary data is obtained using a structured questionnaire based on the responses
provided by the respondents belonging to salaried class.
Secondary data is obtained through various sources such as journals, company

research documents, websites and books.
Sample size
In this study 100 salaried class individuals in Bangalore are taken as the sample
size
A pilot study was conducted to test the questionnaire and its weaknesses. This
study was conducted on 8 respondents to check the appropriateness of the
questions.

LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY
• The research is conducted within limited time duration.

• Obtaining fair responses regarding individual’s personal financial data is
difficult within the available time.
• The size of the sample is limited to 100 due to the above reasons.

CHARTS
Gender
70 65%
60
50
40 35%
30
20
10
0
Female Male
Total 35 65
Graph 1 : Gender
From the above chart it can be observed that 65% of the respondents are male and
35% are female. This maybe because of unequal sex ratio among salaried class,
as some companies have more number of male employees than female
employees.

Age
60
50%
50
41%
40
30
20
9%
10
0
below 25 25 to 45 above 45
Total 41 50 9
Graph 2: Age
From the above graph it is observed that majority i.e 50% of the respondents
belong to the age group of 25 – 45 years, 41% of the respondents are young
belonging to the age group of less than 25 years and only 9% respondents are
above the age of 45.
This is because India’s population majorly consist of young people. Majority of

Indians belong to 25 – 45 year age group. As shown below;
• Indexmundi.com8 – Median age of Indians – 27.9 years

• Statista.com9 – median age of Indians in 2015 – 26.7 years
• Censusindia.gov.in10 – 81% of Indian population is below age 45.

Marital status
70 66%
60
50
40
34%
30
20
10
0
Married Single
Total 34 66
Graph 3: Marital status
From the above graph it is observed that 66% of the respondents are single
whereas only 34% are married.
This is because a large portion of population is ‘single’ in India. As per

census.gov.in10 50% of males and 54.4% females are unmarried in India.

Occupation
60 57%
50
40
29%
30
20
10 6% 6%
2%
0
Self
Doctor/denti Non-
Engineer Retired employed/Fr
st Technical
ee lancer
Total 6 57 29 2 6
Graph 4: Occupation
From the above graph it is observed that majority of the respondent i.e. 57% are
engineer and 29% are non-technical such as accountant, chefs, defence, editor,
etc. Less than 15% respondents belong to other categories.
This is because Bangalore is a Tech-hub, also known as Silicon Valley of India.

A high percentage of population belongs to Technical field, and a small portion
belongs to other category of occupation within Bangalore city.

Years of work experience
60
51%
50
40
28%
30
20
12%
9%
10
0
more than 20
0-3 years 3-10 years 10 - 20 years
years
Total 51 28 12 9
Graph 5: Work Experience
From the above graph it is observed that majority of the respondents i.e 51%
respondents have an experience of 0-3 years, 28% respondents have experience
of 3-10 years. Less than 22% have experience more than 10 years.
As India is a young country with most of its population below the age 45. It is
expected of respondents to have less than 10-20 years of experience.

Type of employment
90 82%
80
70
60
50
40
30
18%
20
10
0
Contractual Permanent/Regular Employment
Total 18 82
Graph 6: Type of employment
From the above graph it is observed that 82% respondents are permanent
employees whereas 18% are contractual i.e they have a contract of limited time
for which they will be working for the company.
It can be inferred that these 82% respondents have a fixed income flow annually
compared to contractual employees who work only for a limited time period
example 6 months, 8 months etc. Contractual workers are very less in numbers
compared to permanent employees as every person would prefer to have a fixed
cash flow in their account than for a limited time.

Annual Income
30
27%
25
22%
20 18%
17%
16%
15
10
0
below 2.5 above 20
2.5 to 5 lakhs 5 to 10 lakhs 10 to 20 lakhs
Lakhs lakhs
Total 17 22 27 18 16
Graph 7: Annual Income
From the above graph it is observed that the majority of the respondents (27%)
earn in the range of 5 to 10 lakhs, 22% earns 2.5 to 5 lakhs, 18% earns 10 to 20
lakhs, 17% earns less than 2.5 lakhs and 16% earns more than 20 lakhs. It can be
observed that 39% of the respondents earn income which falls under the taxable
income.
The income of the respondents spreads over all income groups. This is influenced
by various factors such as their work experience, skills, talents, education etc.

Do you pay taxes?
80
69%
70
60
50
40
28%
30
20
10 3%
0
Maybe No Yes
Total 3 28 69
Graph 8: Do you pat taxes?
From the above graph it is observed that 69% of the people pay taxes, 28% of the
people do not pay taxes while 3% are not aware about it.
Respondents who are not paying the taxes either fall under the category of below
taxable income or they have tax saving investments sufficient enough to bring
down their taxable income below the taxable income limit i.e. below 5 lakhs.
Respondents who are not sure might be the one who are unaware about tax
procedure, such as freelancers, contractual employees, recently started working
people etc.

Yes I pay taxes.
How much is your understanding of Tax?
40
48.6%
35
30
25 31.9%
20
15
13.9%
10
5 4.2%
1.4%
0
Very Low Low Moderate High Very High
Total 3 10 35 23 1
Graph 9: Level of understanding of tax
From the above graph it is observed that 48.6% respondents believe that they have
moderate understanding of taxes, 31.9% respondents believe that they have high
understanding of taxes, 1.4% respondents believe that they have very high
understanding of taxes and less than 20% respondents have low/poor
understanding of taxes.
The above graph shows that majority of the respondents moderately understands
tax. This is due to lack of awareness among youth. Many individuals, especially
engineers and doctors, come to know of taxes once they start their profession as
full time. This is because tax knowledge is not considered important subject in
schools as a curriculum for science students.

How much is your satisfaction level with tax brackets?
35
40.3%
30
25
20 25%
22.2%
15
10
8.3%
5 4.2%
0
Neither
Highly Highly
Dissatisfied Dissatisfied Satisfied
Dissatisfied Satisfied
Nor Satisfied
Total 3 16 29 18 6
Graph 10: Tax slabs satisfaction
From the above graph it is observed that 40.3% of the respondents are neither
satisfied nor dissatisfied with the tax brackets, 25% are satisfied and 8.3% are
highly satisfied with tax brackets. 22.2% of the respondents are dissatisfied with
the tax brackets whereas 4.2% are highly dissatisfied with the tax brackets.
The percentage of response ‘neither satisfied nor dissatisfied’ is high maybe

because their income is low which implies they either have to pay no taxes or
very less amount of taxes.

Why do you pay taxes?
40
48.6%
35 43%
30
25
20
15
10
5 4.2% 4.2%
0
I don't know the To avoid To get public
It is mandatory
reason punishment facilities
Total 3 35 3 31
Graph 11: Reasons for paying taxes
From the above graph it is observed that 48.6% respondents pay taxes because it
is made mandatory by the government. 43% respondents pay taxes because they
believe it helps in gaining more public facilities whereas 4.2% pay taxes to avoid
any kind of penalty/fine if not paid and 4.2% pays without knowing the reason.
It is inferred that majority of the respondents pay taxes because it is mandatory to

pay and would involve punishment if failed to pay the taxes. The act of paying
tax is done out of obligation and not for development of public facilities.

How many Direct taxes are you aware of?
80 100%
70
60
50
40
41.7%
30 34.7%
20 20.8% 20.8%
9.7%
10
0
Securities
Capital Corporate
Income Tax Wealth Tax Gift Tax Transactio
Gain Tax Tax
n
Count 72 25 15 15 30 7
Graph 12: Direct taxes awareness
From the above graph it is observed that of all the respondents who pay taxes,
100% of the respondents are aware of income tax, 41.7% are aware of corporate
tax, 34.7% are aware of wealth tax, 20.8% are aware of capital gain tax and gift
tax and only 9.7% are aware of securities transactions.
It is inferred that respondents are aware of traditional taxes whereas majority of

the respondents are not aware of non-traditional type of direct taxes.

How many Indirect taxes are you aware of?
80
100%
70
60
50
58.3%
40 50%
41.7% 43%
30 33.3%
20
12.5%
10
0
Entertain Education Property Stamp
GST Entry Tax Road Tax
ment Tax Cess Tax Duty
Count 72 36 30 31 24 9 42
Graph 13: Indirect Taxes awareness
From the above graph it is observed that out of all the respondents who pay taxes,
100% are aware of GST, 58.3% are aware of road tax, 50% are aware of
entertainment tax, 41.7% are aware of education cess, 43% are aware of property
tax, 33.3% are aware of stamp duty and only 12.5% are aware of entry tax.
It can be inferred that respondents are aware about the traditional form of indirect
taxes and are less aware of non-traditional form of indirect taxes such as stamp
duty, entry tax, education cess etc.

How much tax do you pay?
30 37.5%
33.3%
25
20
15
12.5%
10 11.1%
5.5%
5
0
below 20 20 to 50 above 2.5
0.5 to 1 lakhs 1 to 2.5 lakhs
thousands thousands lakhs
Total 24 27 8 4 9
Graph 14: Tax paid amount
From the above graph it is observed among tax paying respondents 33.3 % of the
respondents pay taxes less than 20 thousand, 37.5% respondents pay taxes in 10-
50 thousand range, 11.1% respondents pay taxes in 50 thousand to 1 lakhs range
and less than 20% pay taxes above 1 lakh.
It is inferred that majority of the tax paying respondents pay taxes less than 50
thousands, as they may be having income below 8 lakhs with investments or
below 6.5 lakhs without investments.

Satisfaction with taxes paid?
30
36.1%
25
29.2%
20
22.2%
15
10
8.3%
5 4.2%
0
Neither
Highly Highly
nor Satisfied
Total 16 26 21 6 3
Graph 15: Tax Satisfaction
satisfied nor dissatisfied with the amount of taxes paid by them. 36.1% of the
respondents are dissatisfied with the amount of taxes paid, 8.3% are satisfied with
the amount of taxes paid, 4.2% are highly satisfied and 22.2% are highly
dissatisfied.
It can be inferred that majority of the respondents are not satisfied with the
amount of taxes paid by them, it may be due to high income or lack of tax saving
investments.

Do you have any investments?
45 56.9%
40
35 43.1%
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
No Yes
Total 31 41
Graph 16: Do you have Investments?
From the above graph it is observed that 56.9% of the respondents have invested
a part of their income whereas 43.1% of the respondents have not made any kind
of investments.
These 43.1% respondents might be the ones who are still using traditional way of
saving the money, such as savings account, hard cash at home etc. This may be
due the belief that investments are risky and invested amount cannot be taken out
before a stipulated time period i.e. low liquidity.

Investment Yes:
What is the reason for investment?
30
65.9%
25
20
15
10
14.6% 14.6%
5
4.9%
0
Children
Emergency Personal benefits Retirement
expenses
Total 6 2 27 6
Graph 17: Investment Objective
From the above graph it is observed that 65.9% of respondents have made
investments for their personal benefits, 14.6% have invested for children
expenses in future, 14.6% respondents have made investment for the purpose of
retirement and only 4.9% respondents have invested for emergency purposes.
It can be inferred that the investments/savings made might be for the purpose of
buying a house, a car, new television, phone etc. This is because of large number
of unmarried respondents.

Does it provide any tax benefit?
35 80.5%
30
25
20
15
10
5 4.9%
0
No Yes
Total 2 33
Graph 18: Investment provides any tax benefits?
From the above graph it is observed that 80.5% respondents have made
investments that provide tax benefit to them, whereas 4.9% respondents have
made investments that do not provide any tax benefits.
The investments that are made in other avenues could be in the form of share
market, bonds, Forex, chit funds, etc. These investment avenues although does
provide higher rate of return but does not provide any form of tax benefit i.e.
profit/amount invested in these places cannot be taken as deduction in the IT
return.

Willingness to investment in Tax saving options
16 36.6%
14 31.7%
29.3%
12
10
2 2.4%
0
0
Highly unlikly unlikely Maybe Likely Highly Likely
Total 0 1 12 15 13
Graph 19: willingness to invest in tax saving options
From the above graph it is observed that more than 90% of the respondents are
interested in investing in tax saving investments.
It is inferred that respondents are interested in reducing their tax liability by

investing in some tax saving schemes.

Investment No:
Why?
14 41.9% 41.9%
12
10
4 9.7%
6.5%
2
0
Prefer Saving
It is risky Liquidity Low Income
over Investing
Total 3 2 13 13
Graph 20: Why no investments?
From the above graph it is observed that respondents who do not have any
investment, 41.9% of the respondents prefer saving the money than investing,
41.9% believe their income is low to make any investments, 6.5% respondents do
not want to invest because of low liquidity and 9.7% respondents do not want to
invest because it involves risk.
It is inferred that respondents are sceptical about investment avenues and prefer
to keep the money with them as savings. This may be due to low financial
understanding or awareness.

Are you aware of tax saving investments?
18 54.8%
16
45.2%
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
No Yes
Total 17 14
Graph 21: Tax saving Investments awareness
From the above graph it is observed that 54.8% of the respondents are not aware
of tax saving investments whereas only 45.2% respondents aware of it.
This might be because of low awareness and understanding about such schemes.
As the main source of information about such schemes is through word of mouth,
these investment avenues are not much popular.

Do you file ITR?
70 66%
60
50
40 34%
30
20
10
0
No Yes
Total 34 66
Graph 22: Do you file ITR?
From the above graph it is observed that 66% of the respondents file their ITR
whereas 34% of the respondents do not file their ITR.
Since all the respondents are salaried people, 34% is a high number. ITR filing is
an important process and anyone with an income must do it to declare the income
to the government. This high number of non-filers might be due to their belief
that below taxable income they are not required to pay the taxes. This shows that
the 34% of the respondents are unaware about ITR filing and its benefits.

ITR No
Why Not?
25
58.8%
20
15
32.4%
10
5 8.8%
0
Do not know about
Complicated process Not required
it.
Total 3 11 20
Graph 23: Reasons for not filing ITR
From the above graph it is observed that among the respondents who do not file
ITR, 58.8% do not file because they believe it is not required to file their ITR,
32.4% do not file because they do not know about ITR filing and 8.8% do not file
their ITR because it is a complicated process to file ITR.
It can be inferred that, respondents are not aware of the importance of filing ITR
and it is necessary to file ITR irrespective of whether tax is being paid by them
or not. Majority of the respondents believe it is not required as their taxable
income falls below the tax slab.

Do you know the benefits of filing ITR?
25 67.6%
20
15
32.4%
10
0
No Yes
Total 23 11
Graph 24: ITR filing benefits awareness
From the above graph it is observed that 67.6% of the respondents are unaware
of the benefits of filing their ITR whereas 32.4% are aware of such benefits.
It can be observed that a good percentage of respondents do not file their ITR
even when they are aware of the benefits of filing ITR. This might be due to the
perception that ITR is required to be filed only if tax is paid.

ITR Yes:
How do you file?
40 56.1%
35
30
25
20
22.7% 21.2%
15
10
0
Advisors/CA Help of relative/friend Myself
Total 15 14 37
Graph 25: Method of filing ITR
From the above graph it is observed that 56.1% of the respondents file their ITR
by themselves, 21.2% respondents file their ITR with the help of relative/friends
and 22.7% respondents file their ITR with the help of Advisors/CA.
57% of the respondents file their ITR with some external help. This shows that
majority of the respondents have low knowledge about the ITR filing.

Mode of filing
40
53%
35
30
25 33.3%
20
15
13.6%
10
5
0
Using Income Tax
Other Using ClearTax
website.
Total 9 22 35
Graph 26: Mode of filing ITR
From the above graph it is observed that 53% of the respondents use Income Tax
website to file their ITR, 33.3% of the respondents use ClearTax to file their ITR
and 13.6% of the respondents use other sources to file their ITR.
Majority of the respondents rely on the IT website to file their return, this might
be because they are unaware about alternatives or they may be sceptical about
those alternatives and may feel insecure to use them.

How much is your level of satisfaction with filing procedure through IT

website?
30
37.9%
25 34.8%
20
15
15.2%
10
10.6%
5
1.5%
0
Neither
Highly
Dissatisfied Dissatisfied nor Satisfied Highly Satisfied
Dissatisfied
Satisfied
Total 1 7 25 23 10
Graph 27: IT website filing procedure satisfaction level
satisfied nor dissatisfied with the tax filing procedure. 50% of the respondents are
satisfied with the filing procedure whereas less than 12% are dissatisfied with the
filing procedure using IT website.
Since IT website provides complete manual process, a taxpayer can input each
detail with their consent and satisfaction. This although is a lengthier process still
provide satisfaction to the taxpayers while filing.

How long it takes to finish the return?
40
54.5%
35
30
25
31.8%
20
15
13.6%
10
0
less than 10 minutes 10 to 30 minutes more than 30 minutes
Total 9 36 21
Graph 28: TIme taken to file ITR
From the above graph it is observed that 54.5% of the respondents take 10 to 30
minutes to file their ITR, 31.8% respondents take more than 30 minutes to file
their ITR and only 13.6% respondents take less than 10 minutes to file their ITR.
It can be observed that more than 80% of the respondents spend more than 10
minutes in filing their ITR, which indicates the process is complicated and time
consuming. Also respondents who take less than 10 minutes might be the one
with income below taxable income or low taxes.

How satisfied are you with time spent on ITR filing?
25
30.3%
20 27.3%
15 21.2%
10 12.1%
9.1%
5
0
Neither
Highly Highly
nor Satisfied
Total 6 18 20 14 8
Graph 29: Time spent on ITR filing
From the above graph it is observed that 21.2% of the respondents are satisfied
with the amount of time spent in filing their ITR, 12.1% are highly satisfied.
30.3% of the respondents are neither satisfied nor dissatisfied, 27.3% of the
respondents are dissatisfied with the time spent on filing the ITR and 9.1% of the
respondents are highly dissatisfied with the amount of time spent on filing ITR.

What are your sources of deduction?
45 63.6%
40
35
30
25
20
21.2%
15
10 7.6%
5 1.5% 1.5% 1.5% 3.0%
0
I do not
HRA, I come
Home know Section
Epf Donation below the NPS
Loan about 80C
s tax slab
this
Total 1 5 1 1 14 2 42
Graph 30: Deductions awareness
From the above graph it is observed that 63.6% of the respondents have
deductions under section 80C and less than 20% respondents in other investment
avenues. 21.2% of the respondents are not aware of types of deductions available
as they may be below taxable income category.

Are you aware ITR can be filed in less than 10 minutes using
ClearTax website?
40 56.1%
35
43.9%
30
25
20
15
10
0
No Yes
Total 29 37
Graph 31: ClearTax USP awareness
From the above graph it is observed that 56.1% of the respondents are aware of
ClearTax and its USP of time taken to file ITR is less than 10 minutes whereas
43.9% of the respondents are unaware about it.
ClearTax being a start-up needs to penetrate into market by developing more

marketing strategies to penetrate into the market. A large proportion of the market
is still unaware about ClearTax and among those who are aware only small
proportion is willing to use because of trust issues.

Where did you learn about ClearTax?
40 57.6%
35
30
36.4%
25
20
15
10
6.1%
5
0
Advertisement Help Desks Word of Mouth
Total 24 4 38
Graph 32: Source of ClearTax awareness
From the above graph it is observed that 57.6% of the respondents learnt about
ClearTax through word of mouth, 6.1% learnt it through help desks conducted by
ClearTax and 36.4% learnt it through advertisements.
The above graph shows that ClearTax needs to expand their marketing program
to make more people aware about them. With various competitors available in
the market it becomes important to have more frequent advertisements and
promotions.

Do you use ClearTax?
37
54.5%
36
35
34
33
32
31
45.5%
30
29
28
27
No Yes
Total 36 30
Graph 33: Do you use ClearTax?
From the above graph it is observed that 54.5% of the respondents do not use
ClearTax service and only 45.5% of the respondents use ClearTax service to file
their ITR.
The reasons these number can be understood with following graphs and analysis.

ClearTax No:
Why?
25
55.6%
20
15
10 25%
19.4%
0
Competitors
Not secure Privacy
are better
Total 7 9 20
Graph 34: Reason for not using ClearTax
From the above graph it is observed that 55.6% of the respondents do not trust
ClearTax service with their financial data, 25% of the respondents believe that
the service offered by ClearTax is not secure and 19.4% of the respondents
believe that their competitors are better.
With frequent news that is spreading about personal information being leaked,
also with the threat of cyber-attacks people might be unwilling to trust anyone
with their financial data.

Services offered awareness
35
83.3%
30
25
20
15
10
16.7%
5
0
No Yes
Total 30 6
Graph 35: ClearTax services awareness
about the services offered by ClearTax apart from ITR filing platform and just
16.7% of the respondents are aware about such services.
ClearTax being a start-up still has to penetrate into the market to gain public
confidence and increase awareness about their various products.

Do you know it is authorized?
35
86.1%
30
25
20
15
10
13.9%
5
0
No Yes
Total 31 5
Graph 36: ClearTax is a safe filing platform awareness
that ClearTax is authorized by government as a ITR filing platform whereas only
13.9% of the respondents are aware about it.
ClearTax needs to advertise more about their products as a safe and secure
platform. The lack of trust on ClearTax is obvious from the above graph as
respondents are not aware about it being authorised by government as a third
party filling platform.

Do you know ClearTax provides tax assistance?
35
80.6%
30
25
20
15
10 19.4%
5
0
No Yes
Total 29 7
Graph 37: ClearTax Tax assistance service awareness
that ClearTax provide tax assistance for free while filing ITR whereas only 19.4%
are aware about this service.

Will you use ClearTax?
14
33.3%
12
10 25%
8
16.7% 16.7%
6
4 8.3%
0
Highly
Unlikely Maybe Likely Highly Likely
Unlikely
Total 9 6 12 6 3
Graph 38: Willingness to use ClearTax
From the above graph it is observed that 33.3% of the respondents says maybe
they will use the ClearTax service, less than 30% are willing to use the service
and more than 30% says they may not use the services offered by ClearTax.
ClearTax needs to put more efforts in publicizing their product, as it is not

accepted by respondents as safe or as a better platform than Income Tax platform.

ClearTax Yes:
Satisfaction in using ClearTax
16
46.7%
14
12 36.7%
10
8
6
13.3%
4
2 3.3%
0
0
Neither
Highly Highly
nor Satisfied
Total 0 1 4 14 11
Graph 39: Satisfaction level of users of ClearTax
From the above graph it is observed that 46.7% of the respondents are satisfied
with the services offered by ClearTax, 36.7% of the respondents are highly
satisfied with the service and less than 20% of the respondents have any other
opinion about the services offered.

Satisfaction with time taken in ClearTax
14 43.3%
40%
12
10
6 16.7%
2
0
0
Neither
Dissatisfied Dissatisfied Nor Satisfied Highly Satisfied
Satisfied
Total 0 5 12 13
Graph 40: Satisfaction with time taken using ClearTax
From the above graph it is observed that more than 80% of the respondents are
satisfied with the time taken to file ITR using ClearTax website and only 16.7%
of the respondents are neither satisfied nor dissatisfied with the time taken.
ClearTax USP of ability to file in less than 10 minutes is might be the reason for
high satisfaction among respondents.

How likely will you use ClearTax website again?
18 56.7%
16
14
12
33.3%
10
8
6
4 10%
2
0
Maybe Likely Highly Likely
Total 3 10 17
Graph 41: Willingness to use ClearTax service again
From the above graph it is observed that 56.7% of the respondents are highly
likely to use the ClearTax service again, 33.3% of the respondents are likely to
use the service and only 10% of the respondents are unsure about their decision.
The satisfaction from using ClearTax service is the reason respondents are likely
to use it again for this year filing season.

How likely are you suggest it to others?
18
53.3%
16
14
12 36.7%
10
8
6
4 10%
2
0
Maybe Likely Highly Likely
Total 3 11 16
Graph 42: Willingness to suggest others
From the above graph it is observed that 53.3% of the respondents are highly
likely to suggest it to others, 36.7% of the respondents are likely to suggest it to
others whereas 10% of the respondents are unsure about their decision.
A satisfied customer is an ambassador of the brand; the above graph proves the
same. Satisfied respondents are willing to suggest their friends and family for
using ClearTax as a better alternative.

Awareness Programs
45
60.6%
40
35
30 39.4%
25
20
15
10
5
0
No Yes
Total 26 40
Graph 43: Awareness Program encounter
From the above graph it is observed that 60.6% of the respondents say that they
have heard/seen awareness programs regarding ITR filing whereas 39.4% of the
respondents have not encountered any such campaign.
This might be because social media does not take satisfactory efforts to promote
ITR filing compliance and its importance/benefits. This can be observed from the
following graph.

Mode of media
40
53%
35
30
25
20
22.7%
15
13.6%
10
6.1%
5 3% 1.5%
0
Financial Word of
Magazines Newspaper Radio Television
advisors mouth
Total 4 2 9 1 35 15
Graph 44: Mode of Media
From the above graph it is observed that 53% of the respondents have
encountered advertisement/awareness information in television, 22.7% through
word of mouth, 13.6% through newspapers and less than 12% through other
sources.
Television and word of mouth are the main source of awareness among
respondents. It needs to be promoted more in other sources of information as well,
such as newspaper, magazines, radio etc.

Should social media promote it?
30 42.4%
25
30.3%
20
15 21.2%
10
5 4.5%
1.5%
0
Very Low Low Moderate High Very High
Total 1 3 14 28 20
Graph 45: Should social media promote awareness campaigns?
From the above graph it is observed that 42.4% of the respondents highly believe
that such awareness programs should be promoted more, 30.3% of the
respondents very highly believe that such programs must be promoted more,
21.2% moderately believe that it must be promoted and just 6% of the respondents
believe it does not need any promotion.

Are you aware of changes in form 16?
50 69.7%
45
40
35
30
25
30.3%
20
15
10
5
0
No Yes
Total 46 20
Graph 46: Form 16 changes awareness
of the recent change in the form 16 whereas only 31.5% of the respondents are
aware about it.
The above graph is regarding the latest changes in Form 16 that has been made.
The lack of awareness about it is because it has not been promoted by the
government and media satisfactorily. This shows the lack of involvement of
media in spreading awareness.

If yes, how satisfied are you?
10 45%
9
8
7
6 25%
5 20%
4
3 10%
2
1 0
0
Neither
Highly
Dissatisfied Dissatisfied nor Satisfied Highly Satisfied
Dissatisfied
Satisfied
Total 0 2 5 4 9
Graph 47: satisfaction level with changes in form 16
From the above graph it is observed that among those who are aware about the
changes in form 16, 25% of the respondents are unaffected by the change, 20%
are satisfied with the changes, 45% are highly satisfied with the changes and only
10% of the respondents are dissatisfied with the changes in form 16.
Among the respondents who were aware about it, a high percentage is satisfied
with the changes. It maybe because the changes are more elaborates and will help
in better tax compliance among tax payers.

HYPOTHESIS TESTING
Test 1
Null Hypothesis
H0: There is no relationship between income and level of satisfaction of tax paid.
Alternate Hypothesis
H1: There is a relationship between income and level of satisfaction of tax paid.
Hypothesis Testing
ANOVA
How much are you satisfied with the taxes paid by you?
Sum of
Squares df Mean Square F Sig.
Between Groups 9.823 3 3.274 3.237 .027
Within Groups 68.788 68 1.012
Total 78.611 71
Table 1 Test 1 ANOVA Results
As it can be observed from the above test result that the significance level is less
than 0.05 hence we reject the null hypothesis i.e. there is a relationship between
income and level of satisfaction of tax paid.
This implies that the level of satisfaction regarding tax varies with the income
earned by an individual.

Descriptives
95% Confidence Interval

for Mean
Std. Std. Lower Upper

N Mean Deviation Error Bound Bound Minimum Maximum
2.5 to 5 lakhs 15 2.933 .8837 .2282 2.444 3.423 2.0 5.0
5 to 10 lakhs 25 2.120 1.0924 .2185 1.669 2.571 1.0 5.0
10 to 20
18 2.000 .9075 .2139 1.549 2.451 1.0 5.0
lakhs
above 20
14 2.643 1.0818 .2891 2.018 3.267 1.0 5.0
lakhs
Total 72 2.361 1.0522 .1240 2.114 2.608 1.0 5.0
Table 2 Test 1 Mean table
From the above table it can be observed that the mean for every income group
varies as:
• 2.5 to 5 lakhs – neither satisfied nor dissatisfied

• 5 to 10 lakhs – Dissatisfied
• 10 to 20 lakhs – Dissatisfied
• Above 20 lakhs - neither satisfied nor dissatisfied
The mean is around 2.36, which implies that on an average, respondents in each
group are dissatisfied with the amount of taxes paid by them.
The above results can be justified using the below custom table.

Highly Highly
disappointed Disappointed Neutral Satisfied Satisfied
Annual below 2.5

0 0 0 0 0
Income lakhs
2.5 to 5 lakhs 0 5 7 2 1
5 to 10 lakhs 8 10 4 2 1
10 to 20 lakhs 6 7 4 1 0
above 20 lakhs 2 4 6 1 1
Total 16 26 21 6 3
Table 3 Test 1 Frequency Distribution Table
As it can be observed from the table, the conclusion drawn from the above
descriptive table is justified with this custom table.
More number of respondents in 2.5 to 5 lakh category and above 20 lakhs

category are neither satisfied nor dissatisfied.

Test 2
Null Hypothesis
H0: There is no relationship between income and ITR filing.
H1: There is a relationship between income and ITR filing.
Case Processing Summary
Cases
Valid Missing Total
N Percent N Percent N Percent
Annual Income * Do
100 100.0% 0 0.0% 100 100.0%
you file ITR?
Table 4 Test 2 Case Processing Summary
Annual Income * Do you file ITR? Crosstabulation

Count
Do you file ITR?
Yes No Total
Annual Income below 2.5 lakhs
3 14 17
2.5 to 5 lakhs 12 10 22
5 to 10 lakhs 22 5 27
10 to 20 lakhs 17 1 18
above 20 lakhs 12 4 16
Total 66 34 100

Chi-Square Tests
Asymptotic
Significance (2-
Value df sided)
Pearson Chi-Square 28.950a 4 .000
Likelihood Ratio 30.453 4 .000
Linear-by-Linear
Association 18.682 1 .000
N of Valid Cases 100

a. 0 cells (.0%) have expected count less than 5. The minimum expected count is 5.44.
Table 6 Test 2 Chi-Square Results
than 0.05 hence we reject the null hypothesis i.e. there is a relationship between
income and ITR filing.
This implies that the income earned by an individual influence/ act as a reason
for filing ITR.
Graph 48 Test 2 Frequency Graph
It can be observed in the above graph that the ITRs are filed very less by
respondents who have income less than 2.5 lakhs and between 2.5 to 5 lakhs.
While almost every respondent earning more than 5 lakhs file their ITRs.

Test 3
Null Hypothesis
H0: There is no relationship between years of experience and satisfaction level

with taxes paid.
Alternative Hypothesis
H1: There is a relationship between years of experience and satisfaction level with
taxes paid.
Hypothesis Testing
ANOVA
Sum of Mean
Squares df Square F Sig.
Between
4.824 3 1.608 1.482 .227
Groups
Within Groups 73.787 68 1.085
Total 78.611 71
Table 7: Test 3 ANOVA Results
ANOVA test result shows that the significance level is 0.227 which is more than
0.05, hence H0 is true. This implies that there exists no relation between year of
working experience on an individual and satisfaction with taxes paid.

Descriptives
95% Confidence
Interval for Mean
Std. Std. Lower Upper Minimu Maxim

N Mean Deviation Error Bound Bound m um
0-3 years 31 2.129 1.0876 .1953 1.730 2.528 1.0 5.0
3-10 years 24 2.667 .9168 .1871 2.280 3.054 1.0 5.0
10-20 years 11 2.182 1.3280 .4004 1.290 3.074 1.0 5.0
more than 20
6 2.667 .5164 .2108 2.125 3.209 2.0 3.0
years
Total 72 2.361 1.0522 .1240 2.114 2.608 1.0 5.0
Table 8: Test 3 Mean Table
The mean table shows that the average mean of the test is 2.361 which imply that
the satisfaction level of the respondents lie between dissatisfied and Neutral.
Same can be observed from the frequency table below.

Highly Highly
disappointed Disappointed Neutral Satisfied Satisfied
Count Count Count Count Count
Years of 0-3 years 11 9 8 2 1

work
experience 3-10 years 1 11 8 3 1
10-20 years 4 4 1 1 1
more than 20
0 2 4 0 0
years
Total 16 26 21 6 3
Table 9: Test 3 Frequency Distribution Table
The frequency distribution table shows the distribution of total responses, it is

observed that the frequency of ‘disappointed response’ is highest and ‘neutral
response’ has the second highest frequency.

Test 4
Null Hypothesis
H0: There is no significance difference between income and time spent in filing
ITR.
H1: There is a significance difference between income and time spent in filing
ITR.
Hypothesis Testing
ANOVA
How long does it take to finish your ITR?
Sum of Mean
Squares df Square F Sig.
Between
5.848 4 1.462 4.059 .006
Groups
Within Groups 21.970 61 .360
Total 27.818 65
Table 10 Test 4 ANOVA Results
than 0.05 hence we reject the null hypothesis i.e. there is significance difference
between income and time spent in filing ITR.
This implies that the time spent in filing ITR depends on the income of an
individual.

Descriptives
95% Confidence
Interval for Mean

below 2.5
3 2.000 .0000 .0000 2.000 2.000 2.0 3.0
lakhs
2.5 to 5 1.0 3.0

12 1.917 .5149 .1486 1.589 2.244
lakhs
5 to 10 1.0 3.0
22 1.909 .6838 .1458 1.606 2.212
lakhs
10 to 20
17 2.529 .5145 .1248 2.265 2.794 2.0 3.0
lakhs
above 20 1.0 3.0

12 2.500 .6742 .1946 2.072 2.928
lakhs
Total 66 2.182 .6542 .0805 2.021 2.343 1.0 3.0
Table 11 Test 4 Mean Table
It can be observed from the above table that time taken by the respondents varies
with their income as:
• Below 2.5 lakhs – 10-30 minutes (mean 2.0)

• 2.5 to 5 lakhs – less than 10 minutes (mean 1.917)
• 5 to 10 lakhs – less than 10 minutes (mean 1.909)
• 10 to 20 lakhs – more than 30 minutes (mean 2.529)
• Above 20 lakhs – more than 30 minutes (mean 2.182)
On an average, respondents spend more 10 – 30 minutes in filing their ITR, as

can be understood from the total mean of 2.182.

The above result can be justified using the following custom table.
Less than 10 more than 30

minutes 10 - 30 minutes minutes
Annual Income below 2.5 lakhs 0 3 0
2.5 to 5 lakhs 2 9 1
5 to 10 lakhs 6 12 4
10 to 20 lakhs 0 8 9
above 20 lakhs 1 4 7
Total 9 36 21
It can be observed from the above table that:
• Respondents belonging to “below 2.5 lakhs” category takes 10 – 30

minutes.
• Respondents belonging to “2.5 to 5 lakhs” and “5 to 10 lakhs” category on
an average takes 0 – 30 minutes (as more respondents belong to “less than
10 minutes” category than “more than 30 minutes” category, average fall
towards lesser time taken)
• Majority of the respondents belonging to “10 to 20 lakhs” and “above 20
lakhs” category take more than 30 minutes to file their return.

Test 5
Null Hypothesis
H0: There is no relationship between age and time spent in filing ITR.
Alternative Hypothesis
H1: There is a relationship between age and time spent in filing ITR.
Hypothesis Testing
ANOVA
Sum of
Squares df Mean Square F Sig.
Between Groups .458 2 .229 .527 .593
Within Groups 27.360 63 .434
Total 27.818 65
Table 13: Test 5 ANOVA Results
ANOVA result shows that the significance level is more than 0.05, as shown in
the table above. This implies that null hypothesis is true hence there is no
relationship between age and time taken to file the ITR.

Descriptives
95% Confidence
Interval for Mean

below 25 21 2.190 .6016 .1313 1.917 2.464 1.0 3.0
25 to 45 41 2.146 .6543 .1022 1.940 2.353 1.0 3.0
above 45 4 2.500 1.0000 .5000 .909 4.091 1.0 3.0
Total 66 2.182 .6542 .0805 2.021 2.343 1.0 3.0
Table 14: Test 5 Mean Table
The mean table, as shown above, tells that the mean of the data lies towards 10-
30 minutes and more than 30 minutes. Hence time taken by an individual to file
his/her ITR is independent of their age, i.e. young and old both take more than
10-30 minutes. This might be due to the lengthy process and understanding
required while filling the form.

Less than 10 more than 30

minutes 10 - 30 minutes minutes
Count Count Count
Age below 25 2 13 6
25 to 45 6 23 12
above 45 1 0 3
Total 9 36 21
Table 15: Test 5 Frequency Distribution Table
The conclusion drawn above using mean table can be justified using the above
custom table. The majority of the individuals fall under the 10-30 minutes
category and second majority falls in more than 30 minutes category.

FINDINGS
• Respondents are found to have mixed feeling with the tax slabs. This can
be observed in table 3 that, respondents are either dissatisfied or have
mixed feelings with tax slabs. Majority of the respondents pay taxes
because it is mandatory to pay, failing which can result in penalty. It is
believed that tax is a burden and is considered an obligation, than a
contribution to the countries development. It was also found that the
respondents are not satisfied with the amount of taxes paid by them
irrespective of the income earned by them; this aligns with their
dissatisfaction with the tax slabs. It can be inferred that respondents have
dissatisfaction with the tax slabs because of the amount of taxes levied on
them.
• It was found that the respondents are much aware of traditional type of
taxes and are unaware of non-traditional type of taxes. This is due to lack
of influence on the students in school. Science students are not made aware
of tax concepts.
• Among the non-filers, 58.8% do not file because they believe it is not
required to file their ITR. It is believed that ITR is filed only if one pays
tax and has no use apart from declaring the taxes and income to the
government. It was found from the graph 27 and graph 29 that respondents
are satisfied with the process of filing tax whereas they are dissatisfied with
the amount of time taken to file their return. This can also be one reason
for respondents not filing ITR.
• A good number of respondents are aware of ClearTax and its USP of filing
under 10 minutes. But due to privacy issue majority of them do not use it.
They are unaware that ClearTax is a government authorised filing platform.
This is due to lack of advertisement and market penetration by ClearTax.
• Television is the main source of awareness about ITR filing. 70% of the
respondents are unaware of the current changes in the format of Form 16.
This shows that social media are lacking in creating awareness about
important matters like changes in Form 16 and importance of ITR filing.

SUGGESTIONS
• More investments must be made by the taxpayers to decrease their tax

liability. It is possible to have up to 4 lakhs of deduction in a taxpayer’s
income which can reduce the tax liability considerably. Such investments
save tax as well as provide interest on the investments; thus the investor
gets double benefit. Tax saving investments must be promoted more over
social media.
• Knowledge regarding various types of taxes must be increased by the
taxpayers. Increase in understanding of taxes can help an individual in
understanding how much he/she is liable to pay and if they are paying the
right amount. This can avoid them from paying double taxes.
• ITR filing awareness must be increased. The misconception about ITR
filing must be removed by teaching taxpayers about the importance and
benefits of ITR filing.
• ITR filing procedure must be improved to allow less time consumption in
filing ITR by an individual. New technology must be used to improve the
overall performance of Income Tax website. The server must be improved
to avoid the website crash due to over crowding of ITR filing towards the
end of the filing season.
• ClearTax must promote more on mass media to penetrate into the market.
Advertisements in various public gathering, festivals, sponsorships, etc.
must be increased to increase awareness about ClearTax. People must be
made aware of ClearTax USP which gives them an advantage over IT
website. Increased awareness will result in more use of Cleartax service
and hence a larger database.

CONCLUSION
From the above report it can be concluded that the majority of the respondents
are tax payers. Respondents paying taxes have moderate knowledge regarding
taxes. They are aware of traditional form of taxes such as income tax, GST,
corporate tax, road tax, entertainment tax etc. whereas they are unaware of non-
traditional type if taxes such as, entry tax, stamp duty, education cess, property
tax etc. Even though respondents are satisfied with tax slab, they are not satisfied
with the amount of taxes paid by them. The taxes paid by them is high may be
because of less investments or high income.
Most of the respondents file their ITR, but majority of the respondents belonging
to income category that falls below taxable income (5 lakhs) do not file their ITR,
as they believe it is not necessary to file. This shows their lack of understanding
and awareness towards ITR. Income Tax return is necessarily to be filed by each
individual having an income irrespective of whether that income is taxable or not.
Respondents, who file their ITR, are satisfied with the ITR filing procedure using
Income Tax portal but are dissatisfied with the time taken to file it. This
dissatisfaction can be taken care by ClearTax if promoted appropriately as a safe
and secure filing portal.
Lack of awareness regarding ITR filing and knowledge regarding taxes is due to
lack of awareness programs, these programs may increase the understanding of
respondents regarding the importance of taxes and ITR filing. Hence government
should take initiative to promote such programs.

LEARNING EXPERIENCE
Working at ClearTax was a great experience because it involved interaction with

various companies and their employees. I was working with the brand
development team as well as lead generation team.
Working at ClearTax I learnt about Indian direct tax, deductions and ITR filing
procedures. I learnt how to calculate the taxable income as well as the tax payable
by an individual based on the tax slab they fall under. I learnt how to use ClearTax
website to file the returns.
Working with the brand development team I was responsible for branding of
ClearTax to the companies I had visited, to set up a help desk. I had the
responsibility of helping the employees of various companies across Bangalore
with their queries regarding Taxes and ITR filing. I helped the branding team to
create a tax quiz to test the knowledge and understanding of the new interns and
employees with respect to Tax and ITR filing.
Working with the lead generation team I was auditing the companies profile,
based on factors such as location, number of employees etc., to identify if the
companies qualify to be considered as a prospective client.
The team at ClearTax is very supportive and they helped me gain more
confidence in interacting with experience employees and they also helped me in
conducting seminar in the companies to demonstrate the ITR filing process and
ClearTax branding.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
1. Bernard, O. M., Memba, D. F., & Oluoch, D. O. (2018). Influence of Tax

Knowledge and Awareness on Tax Compliance Among Investors in the
Export Processing Zones in Kenya. International Journal of Scientific
Research and Management, 728-733.
2. Gupta, S., & Kumar, S. (2015). A Study on Income Tax Payers Perception
towards Electronic Filing. Journal of Internet Banking and Commerce.
3. Jain, R., & Jain, D. C. (2017). E-Filing of Income Tax Returns: Satisfaction
level of Individual Tax Payers in Udaipur District, Rajasthan. Pacific
Business Review International, 172-177.
4. Kamaluddin, A., & Madi, N. (2004). Tax Literacy and tax awareness of
salaried individuals in Sabah and Sarawak. NATIONAL ACCOUNTING
RESEARCH JOURNAL , 71-89.
5. Kamil, N. I. (2015). The Effect of Taxpayer Awareness, Knowledge, Tax

Penalties and Tax Authorities Services on the Tax Complience: (Survey on
the Individual Taxpayer at Jabodetabek & Bandung) . Research Journal of
Finance and Accounting , 104-111.
6. Rahayu1, Y. N., Setiawan, M., Troena, E. A., & Sudjatno. (2017). The role
of taxpayer awareness, tax regulation and understanding in taxpayer
compliance. Journal of Accounting and Taxation, 139-146.
7. Rajeswari, K., & Mary, T. S. (2014). E-Filing of Income Tax returns:

Awareness and Satisfaction level of salaried employees. International
journal of current research and academic review, 39-45.
8. Indexmundi.com (https://www.indexmundi.com/india/demographics_profile.html)

9. Statista.com (https://www.statista.com/statistics/254469/median-age-of-the-population-in-india/)
10. Censusindia.gov.in
(http://censusindia.gov.in/Census_And_You/age_structure_and_marital_status.aspx)
11. ClearTax.in (https://cleartax.in/s/about-us)
12. Research Methodology – C. R. Kothari and Gaurav Garg

APPENDIX: QUESTIONNAIRE
This project is undertaken by Gaurav Dhama, student of RIT, MBA

department. Any information provided will remain confidential. Please
provide you honest responses, as it will help in obtaining the right results.
*Required
Personal Details
1. Name
If you do not want to disclose your identity,
please write anonymous.
2. Gender *
Mark only one oval.
• Male
• Female
3. Age *
Mark only one oval.
• below 25
• 25 to 45
• above 45
4. Marital Status *
Mark only one oval.
• Single
• Married
5. Occupation *
Mark only one oval.
• Engineer
• Doctor/dentist
• Non-Technical
• Retired
• Self-employed/Free lancer
i
6. Years of work experience *

Mark only one oval.
• 0-3 years
• 3-10 years
• 10 - 20 years
• more than 20 years
7. Location *
8. Type of Employment? *
Mark only one oval.
• Contractual
• Permanent/Regular Employment
9. Annual Income *
Mark only one oval.
• below 2.5 Lakhs

• 2.5 to 5 lakhs
• 5 to 10 lakhs
• 10 to 20 lakhs
• above 20 lakhs
10. Do you pay taxes? *

Mark only one oval.
• Yes
• No Stop filling out this form.
• Maybe
11. How much is your understanding towards tax? *

Mark only one oval.
Very Low 1 2 3 4 5 Very High
12. How much is your satisfaction level with the tax brackets. *
Mark only one oval.
Highly Dissatisfied 1 2 3 4 5 Highly Satisfied
ii
13. Why do you pay taxes? *

Mark only one oval.
• To avoid punishment
• To get public facilities
• It is mandatory
• I don't know the reason
14. How many types of Direct taxes are you aware of? *
Tick all that apply.
• Income Tax
• Wealth Tax
• Capital Gain Tax
• Gift Tax
• Corporate Tax
• Securities transaction
15. How many types of indirect taxes are you aware of? *
Tick all that apply.
• GST
• Entertainment Tax
• Education Cess
• Property Tax
• Stamp Duty
• Entry Tax
• Road Tax
16. How much is the tax paid by you? *

Mark only one oval.
• below 20 thousands
• 10 to 50 thousands
• 50 to 1 lakhs
• 1 to 2.5 lakhs
• above 2.5 lakhs
17. How much are you satisfied with the taxes paid by you? *
Mark only one oval.
Highly Disappointed 1 2 3 4 5 Highly satisfied
18. Do you have any investments *

Mark only one oval.
• Yes
• No Skip to question 22.
iii
19. What is the reason for investment? *

Mark only one oval.
• Children expenses
• Retirement
• Emergency
• Personal benefits
20. Does your investments provide any tax benefits? *

Mark only one oval.
• Yes
• No
21. How likely are you to invest in tax saving options? *

Mark only one oval.
Highly Unlikely 1 2 3 4 5 Highly Likely
22. What is the reason for not investing? *

Mark only one oval.
• Low Income
• Prefer Saving over Investing
• It is risky
• Liquidity
23. Are you aware about the tax saving investments? *

Mark only one oval.
• Yes
• No
24. Do you file ITR? *

Mark only one oval.
• Yes Skip to question 28.

25. What is the reason for not filing ITR? *

Mark only one oval.
• Do not know about it.

• Not required
• Complicated process
• Other:
iv
26. Do you know the benefits of filing ITR? *

Mark only one oval.
• Yes
• No
27. Do you know not filing the ITR can prevent you from receiving various benefits
offered by the government? * Mark only one oval.
• Yes
• No
Stop filling out this form.
28. How do you file your ITR? *

Mark only one oval.
• Myself
• Help of relative/friend
• Advisors/CA
29. Through which mode do you file your ITR? *

Mark only one oval.
• Using Income Tax website.

• Using ClearTax
• Other
30. How satisfied are you with the Income tax website filing procedure? *
Mark only one oval.
31. How long does it take to finish your ITR? *

Mark only one oval.
• less than 10 minutes

• 10 to 30 minutes
• more than 30 minutes
32. How satisfied are you with the amount of time spent on filing your ITR? *
Mark only one oval.
v
33. Which is the main source of deduction in your ITR? *

Mark only one oval.
• Section 80C
• Home Loan
• NPS
• I do not know about this
• Other:
34. Are you aware ITR can be filed in less than 10 minutes using ClearTax website? *
Mark only one oval.
• Yes
• No
35. Where did you learn about ClearTax? *

Mark only one oval.
• Advertisement
• Help Desks
• Word of Mouth
36. Do you File your ITR using ClearTax? *

Mark only one oval.
• Yes Skip to question 42.

If No
37. What is the reason for not using ClearTax? *

Mark only one oval.
• Not secure
• Competitors are better
• Privacy
38. Do you know about the services offered by ClearTax? *

Mark only one oval.
• Yes
• No
39. Do you know ClearTax is authorised by government and is safe? *

Mark only one oval.
• Yes
• No
vi
40. Do you know ClearTax provides assistance to save your Taxes? *

Mark only one oval.
• Yes
• No
41. How likely are you to use ClearTax? *

Mark only one oval.
Skip to question 46.
If yes
42. How is your satisfaction level in using ClearTax? *

Mark only one oval.
43. How satisfied are you with the time taken to file the return using ClearTax? *
Mark only one oval.
44. How likely are you to use it again? *

Mark only one oval.
45. How likely are you suggest it to others? *

Mark only one oval.
46. Do you hear/see any advertisement/awareness program for filing the ITR? *
Mark only one oval.
• Yes
• No
vii
47. Which media is major source of awareness? *

Mark only one oval.
• Television
• Newspaper
• Radio
• Magazines
• Word of mouth
• Financial advisors
48. How much do you feel the social media should promote such campaigns? *
Mark only one oval.
Very Less 1 2 3 4 5 Very High
49. Do you know about the changes in the format of form 16? *
Mark only one oval.
• Yes
• No
50. if yes, how satisfied are you with the changes in form 16?
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Gaurav Dhama

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Gaurav Dhama

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PROJECT REPORT ON

“A STUDY ON TAX LITERACY AND ITR FILING AWARENESS AMONG

UNDER THE GUIDANCE AND SUPERVISION OF

INTERNAL GUIDE EXTERNAL GUIDE

SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT FOR THE AWARD OF

MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

DEPARTMENT OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES,

Dr. Vijaya Kumar G. Dr. P.V.Raveendra Dr. N.V.R.Naidu

Project Guide HOD, Dept. of Management Principal

GAURAV DHAMA (1MS17MBA21)

Examiners: Signature with date

Place: Bangalore Dr. Vijaya Kumar G.

Place: Bangalore GAURAV DHAMA

Any achievements, be it scholastic or otherwise does not depend only on the

I am grateful to our RAMAIAH INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY for having

I express my gratitude to Dr. P. V. Raveendra, Professor and Head of Department

The research data was collected using questionnaire consisting of 50 questions.

• Most of the respondents pay taxes because it is mandatory to pay, failing

DEPARTMENT OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES, RIT Page 1

The researcher suggests that

• More tax saving investments must be promoted over social media.

• ITR filing procedure must be improved to allow less time consumption in

• Advertisements in various public gathering, festivals, sponsorships etc.

It is concluded that respondents have moderate knowledge regarding taxes. They

DEPARTMENT OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES, RIT Page 2

To execute this Act Government of India has constituted various authorities.

Central Government appoints Income tax authorities, whoever they feel is

DEPARTMENT OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES, RIT Page 3

FinTech can be defined as per EY UK as “FinTechs are high growth organizations

Growth capital in world is shown in the table below.

DEPARTMENT OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES, RIT Page 4

• Ernst and Young • 1040Now.net

Below is the list of some of the top performing companies in India.

• H&R Block • MyITReturn

DEPARTMENT OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES, RIT Page 5

BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY IN INDIA

• The approach of government portal is traditional where a taxpayer has to

Seeing these problems as opportunities various companies have come up with

DEPARTMENT OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES, RIT Page 6

• Tax Cloud: It is a software product which is available for purchase. This

ClearTax is a venture capital backed company with some of Silicon valley’s

DEPARTMENT OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES, RIT Page 7

To make every citizen of India financially independent

• Brands like IBM, Infosys, HCL, Wipro, Cognizant.

• Partners with India’s biggest HRMS and Payroll Management companies

DEPARTMENT OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES, RIT Page 8

Website Primary Industry Primary Office

www.cleartax.in Financial Software 2A, Ground Floor, 23

Privately Held (backing) Accounting, Audit and Tax Road Hongasandra

DEPARTMENT OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES, RIT Page 9

PORTER’S FIVE FORCES ANALYSIS

THREAT OF NEW ENTRANTS

DEPARTMENT OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES, RIT Page 10

TOP COMPETITORS AND ALTERNATIVES

myITreturn is one of ClearTax's to competitors. myITreturn was founded in 2006,

TaxSpanner is seen as one of the ClearTax's biggest rival. TaxSpanner was

DEPARTMENT OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES, RIT Page 11

DEPARTMENT OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES, RIT Page 12

• ‘The Effect of Taxpayer Awareness, Knowledge, Tax Penalties and

DEPARTMENT OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES, RIT Page 13

• ‘AN EMPIRICAL STUDY ON FINANCIAL LITERACY LEVEL OF

DEPARTMENT OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES, RIT Page 14

• ‘TAX AWARENESS AND PERCEPTION OF TAX PAYERS AND

DEPARTMENT OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES, RIT Page 15