‘ ₹12 lakh in just a few days’: Viral post on Pune-based CA’s income during ITR season sparks debate online
The 31 July income tax return (ITR) filing deadline is now over, but a viral post about a Pune-based chartered accountant’s earnings by providing tax filing assistance has continued to grab attention online, sparking a debate over how lucrative ITR filing work can be during the peak tax season.
The discussion began after an X (formerly Twitter) user named Paritosh Sharma, claimed that his friend in Pune who is a chartered accountant by profession generated approximately ₹12 lakh in a few days by serving nearly 400 clients.
“Friend of mine in Pune is a CA who helps people in his network file their ITRs. He started just three years ago. Today, he has around 400 clients,” the user wrote, adding that the person charges ₹3,000 per client during the ITR filing season, which translated into roughly ₹12 lakh in earnings.
This report is based on user-generated content from social media. Livemint has not independently verified the claims and does not endorse them.
A growing network brought repeat business
Sharma also highlighted that as his friend’s network grew, the clients returned to him for other business needs, further expanding his portfolio.
“As his network grew, clients also started approaching him for business registrations, accounting, and other compliance work. Today, he’s making more from his practice than from his full-time job,” he said.
According to the user, his friend’s growing network brought him so much work that he eventually had to hire two interns to manage the workload.
“Crazy how much money a skill can make when combined with trust and a strong network,” he wrote in the social media post.
Who needs to hire an expert for tax filing assistance?
For many salaried taxpayers with straightforward income, filing an ITR can often be done online without professional help.
However, people frequently hire chartered accountants or tax professionals when their financial profile becomes more complex, such as having multiple sources of income, foreign assets, rental income, business or freelance earnings, income from digital assets or other high-value transactions.
In such cases, taxpayers usually pay not just for form-filling assistance but also for accurate tax computation, compliance, documentation and peace of mind during the filing process. Some fintech platforms also offer ITR filing services during the tax season in exchange of a fee.
The July 31 ITR filing deadline was for those taxpayers who were filing ITR-1 or ITR-2 and did not require to undergo an audit. These forms can be submitted by individuals who have capital gains, income from house properties, salary or pension, foreign assets, among others. More than 5.9 crore ITRs were filed ahead of this due date as government did not announce an extension this year.
Social media users react to the viral post
As the post gained traction, social media users reacted in different ways. While some were impressed by the figure, others pointed out the intense workload involved in handling hundreds of ITR filings within a short period and raised concerns about the mental exhaustion.
“He has earned that knowledge and not bought it,” said one user while another added: “Nowadays, all CAs ask for ₹10,000 atleast.”
A third person commented, “My pune friend is a CA who helps salaried people file their ITR. He stated 5 year ago. Today is around 4000 salaried client. He charge Rs. 2000 at least per client during ITR season , making around 80 lac in just work in 2-3 months. And rest remaining month like retired person.”
A fourth said: “What about mental health? You need to pick calls 24×7. No one listens to your intern; everyone wants to speak with you only. A job with flexible hours is much better than practice unless you are passionate about it.”
