Beijing's tax office has announced that 3.31 billion yuan (US$428 million) of individual income tax was collected in March this year, an increase of 82.1 percent over February and a new record of single-month income tax revenue.

The tax office attributed the sharp rise to the self-declaration of the city's high-income earners, who are required by State Administration of Taxation (SAT) to file personal income tax returns voluntarily before April 2.

It is the first year the SAT requires high-income earners -- those who earn more than 120,000 yuan (US$15,400) a year -- to declare their annual income.

By April 1, 255,000 people had declared their annual income in Beijing, 35,000 more than the tax bureau had expected.

"Most of the 35,000 unexpected tax declarers are college teachers,stock-holders and people in the recreational circle," said Shi Xiaojun, an official with the Beijing Tax Bureau.

Chinese tax authorities had received 1.6 million declarations from the country's high-income earners as of April 2, said sources with the SAT on Thursday.

(Xinhua News Agency April 7, 2007)