A total of 255,000 Beijingers had filed personal income tax returns to local taxation authorities before the national deadline on Monday, officials said on Tuesday.

The number, slightly more than the forecast figure of 250,000, is "generally satisfactory," said a senior official with the Beijing Local Taxation Bureau.

However, financial experts suggested on Thursday that the tax department has received barely 15 percent of the number of returns it is expecting.

This is the first year the State Administration of Taxation (SAT) is requiring high-income earners -- those whose annual incomes are more than 120,000 yuan -- to file personal income statements.

The national tax department says as of March 26 it had received only 1.18 million tax declarations.

The director of SAT's press office Niu Xinwen said the number of expected income tax returns is a secret but a professor of finance at the People's University says there are likely six to seven million people who earned more than 120,000 yuan last year in China.

The Beijing Local Taxation Bureau says there are 350,000 people in the capital alone who earn more than 120,000 yuan a year.

Those who did not file returns in time may do so after the deadline, but have to explain the delay to taxation authorities. They are liable to a fine of no more than 2,000 yuan, or a fine between 2,000 and 10,000 yuan if the error is considered of a serious nature.

Among the 255,000 people who reported, 98 percent filed returns via the Internet with others preferring to work by mail or by going in person to taxation offices, according to the official with the Beijing Local Taxation Bureau.

China's new tax return system will ensure that those who earn the most pay the most and will help narrow the gap between the rich and poor, observers said. (One U.S. dollar equals 7.7277 yuan)

Source: Xinhua