How to Become Income Tax Officer in India? – Eligibility, Syllabus, Salary

Is it your dream to be an Income Tax Officer in India? ITO is a powerful, authoritative inspector of the Indian income tax department who deals with various tax-based matters of the Central Board of Direct Taxes.

In short, they are regarded as “Tax Specialists.” So, are you wondering the plausible criterion to become an Income Tax Officer? To gain access to the income tax department, you need to clear the SSC CGL or UPSC exam.

These officers have superior analytical skills and an improved level of numeracy that is necessary to examine suspected tax fraud. The Income Tax Department functions under the Finance Ministry and the Revenue Department.

Therefore, the designation Income Tax Officer is the highest post under the Ministry board. If you are ready to take the plunge in the aforementioned exam and be an Income Tax Officer in India, check out everything shown below for your convenience.

How to Become Income Tax Officer in India?

How to Become Income Tax Officer in India

Aspirants should appear in the Combined Graduate Level (CGL) exam conducted by the Staff Selection Commission. So, if your age is below 30 years, you are eligible to partake in the exam.

The appointment of the Income Tax Officers is done via SSC CGL, which is considered the main exam for appointing Grade C and B inspectors for the income tax department. Apart from this exam, aspirants may also choose the UPSC exam for Indian Revenue Services in order to get appointed as a Group A officer.

Eligibility Criterion

In order to be appointed as an Income Tax Officer under the Central Government of India, you must fulfill adequate requirements. The detailed eligibility criteria are shown below:

Educational Qualification

Aspirants should have a Bachelor’s Degree in any stream from an accredited University or anything similar degree.

Syllabus

The exam is conducted in two modes:

Preliminary Exam:

The syllabus of prelims includes Arithmetic, General Awareness, and General Intelligence. So, the detailed eligibility criteria are shown below:

Section Subject Total Number of Questions Total Marks Time
Part A General Awareness and General Intelligence 100 100 2 Hours
Part B Arithmetic 100 100 2 Hours

Mains Exam:

SSC CGL Mains exam includes Reasoning and Awareness (General Studies), Arithmetic Abilities, Communication Skills and Writing, English Comprehension, Language.  So, the detailed eligibility criteria of the Mains exam are shown below:

The subject of Mains Exam Total Marks Time Duration
Reasoning and Awareness (General Studies) 200 3 hours
English Comprehension 100 2 hours 20 minutes
Language 100 2 hours 20 minutes
Communication Skills and Writing 200 2 hours 20 minutes
Arithmetic Abilities 200 4 Hours

Aspirants who have successfully cleared all the Prelims and Mains exams will be called for a face-to-face interview. Here, the interviewer assesses the candidate’s knowledge about taxation and mental fitness.

Age Limit

Candidates’ age limit should not be more than 30 years. If you are a general category candidate, you must apply for the post in this condition of not exceeding the age limit. However, the detailed list of age limits and the relaxations for every candidate is shown below in a tabular format:

Sl. No. Category Age Relaxation
1 SC/ST 5 Years
2 OBC 3 years
3 PH + OBC 13 years
4 PH + Gen 10 years
5 PH + SC/ST 15 years
6 Ex-Servicemen (SC/ST) 8 years
7 Ex-Servicemen (Gen) 3 years
8 Ex-Servicemen (OBC) 6 years
  • Physical Fitness
  • Height: 5 cm
  • Physical Test:
  • Cycling: 8 km in 30 minutes
  • Walking: 1600 meters in 15 minutes
  • Chest: 81 cm, completely expanded with a minimum augmentation of 5 cm

Salary of Income Tax Officer?

Major perks and advantages are there for becoming a successful Income Tax Officer. Along with the fixed salary package, the officers also earn enormous and amazing allowances.

According to the selected grade, there could be a minimum variation in the salary. Let’s look at the salary structure and incentives of an Income Tax Officer below:

Categories City 1 City 2 City 3
Basic Pay 44900 INR 44900 INR 44900 INR
HRA 10776 INR 7184 INR 3592 INR
DA 7633 INR 7633 INR 7633 INR
TA 3600 INR 1800 INR 1800 INR
DA on TA 612 INR 306 INR 306 INR
National Pension System Deduction 10% (Basic + DA) 5253 INR 5253 INR 5253 INR
Net Earnings 67521 INR 63929 INR 60337 INR
CGHS 350 INR 350 INR 350 INR
CGEIS 30 INR 30 INR 30 INR
Government Contribution 7355 INR 7355 INR 7355 INR
Total Deduction 5633 INR 5633 INR 5633 INR
A total package of an Income Tax Officer 61888 INR 58296 INR 57407 INR

Apart from the pay scale of income tax officers, they get numerous career development and promotion scopes. A table is shown below for the salary of income tax officer’s promoted roles and salaries.

Rank Salary Per Month
Income Tax Officer 9300 INR to 34,800 + Grade amount of 4800 INR/5400 INR
Assistant Commissioner Rs. 15,600 to 39,100+Grade pay Rs. 5,400
Deputy Commissioner Rs. 15,600 to 39,100
Joint Commissioner Joint Commissioner     Rs. 37400 to 67,000 + Grade pay Rs. 8,700
Commissioner Rs. 37,400 to 67,000 + Grade pay Rs. 10,000
Principal Commissioner Rs. 67,000 to 79,000
Chief Commissioner Rs. 75,550 to 80,000
Principal Chief Commissioner of IT Rs. 80,000

Selection Process

The detailed selection procedure of the SSC CGL exam to be an income tax officer comprises 4 crucial stages. If you can successfully clear every stage and score cut-off marks, you will be eligible to crack this exam.

Tier Question Type Mode
Tier – I Objective Multiple Choice Questions Online computer exam
Tier – II Objective Multiple Choice Questions Online computer exam
Tier – III Descriptive Paper in Hindi or English Manual mode (Pen and paper method)
Tier – IV Computer Skill Test or Proficiency Test Whatever applicable

The total marks for Tier 1 + Tier 2 + Tier 3 are 700. You should target the highest possible score to acquire the post of Income Tax Officer. The cut-off score is pretty high as every candidate is longing for this post.

Moreover, this post comes under pay level 7 with 4600 as a grade pay scale. So, you need to be highly consistent with your daily preparation and study rigorously to eliminate the weaker areas.

This is how you can become the highest scorers to get this job. However, the detailed SSC CGL cut off out of 700 are demonstrated below for your convenience:

Candidate’s Category Cut Off marks
General 578.75
SC 515.25
ST 511.50
OBC 557.75
HH 473.00
OH 489.50
Ex-Serviceman 482.50

Conclusion

To conclude, you can be an Income Tax Officer in India after successfully passing the selection criteria mentioned above. Always remember that your immense perseverance and indomitable willingness can fetch success. With the government undertaking countless measures to handle illegitimate wealth, the major requirement of the Income Tax Officers is drastically increasing.

Hopefully, this article helped you discover the adequate answers to be an Income Tax Officer. You can follow the detailed procedures mentioned above for your career development. Do you like this article? Don’t forget to like, share, and subscribe! Have any questions? Kindly let us know by commenting below!

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