| Post: | Central Board of Direct Taxes |
| Native Name: | केंद्रीय प्रत्यक्ष कर बोर्ड |
| Flag: | Flag of India.svg |
| Flagsize: | 110px |
| Flagcaption: | Flag of India |
| Insignia: | Emblem_of_India.svg |
| Insigniasize: | 75px |
| Insigniacaption: | Emblem of India |
| Residence: | North Block, Secretariat Building, New Delhi |
| Appointer: | Finance minister of India |
| Chairperson: | Rani Singh Nair I.R.S. (IT)[1] |
| Inaugural: | Jamuna Prasad Singh |
| Incumbent: | Ravi Agarwal, IRS (IT:1988) |
| Incumbentsince: | 1 July 2024 |
| Formation: | 1964 |
| Abbreviation: | CBDT |
| Status: | Active |
| Reports To: | Government of India |
| Department: | Income Tax Department (IT) |
The Chairperson, Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) is the senior-most IRS (IT) civil servant in the Government of India. The Chairperson of Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) is the Special Secretary to the Government of India and also cadre controlling authority of the Indian Revenue Service (Income Tax).
The CBDT Chairperson is a Special Secretary and reports to the Revenue Secretary of India.[2] He is placed equivalent to officers of the rank of Lieutenant-General, Vice-Admiral or Air Marshal, CBI Director and Deputy Comptroller and Auditor General in the Order of Precedence.[3]
The following are the functions of the Chairman:
As the Chairperson, CBDT is of the rank of Secretary to Government of India, his/her salary is equivalent[6] to Chief Secretaries of State Governments and to Vice Chief of Army Staff/Commanders, in the rank of Lieutenant General and equivalent ranks in Indian Armed Forces.
| Pay Level 17 | [7] |
| Name | Tenure | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Jamuna Prasad Singh | 1964 - 1967 | First ever CBDT Chairman |
| S A I Navapna Raw | 1967 - 1968 | |
| K S Sundara Rajan | 1968 - 1969 | Went on to become Special Secretary, Cabinet Secretariat |
| R N Muttoo | 1969 - 1971 | |
| R D Shah | 1971 - 1974 | |
| S R Mehta | 1974 - 1977 | |
| S Narayan | 1977 - 1978 | |
| V V Badami | 1978 - 1979 | |
| O V Kuravilla | 1979 - 1981 | Went on to become Chairman of Kerala State Electricity Regulatory Commission |
| Jagdish Chand | 1981 - 1983 | |
| V Chidambaram | 1983 - 1984 | |
| N Subramanian | 1984 - 1985 | |
| M S Narayanan | 1985 - 1986 | |
| Chand K. Tikku | 1986 - 1988 | Went on to become Vice Chairman of MP Administrative Reforms Commission |
| G N Gupta | 1988 - 1989 | |
| A S Thind | 1989 - 1989 | |
| T N Pandey | 1989 - 1990 | Went on to become Member of Direct Tax Reforms Committee |
| A V Swaminathan | 1990 - 1991 | |
| A K Ghosh | 1991 - 1992 | Was appointed as Chairman of Supreme Fact-Finding Committee related to Harshad Mehta Scam |
| S Ramamurthi | 1992 - 1993 | |
| R S Rathore | 1993 - 1994 | |
| Dr. N R Sivaswamy | 1994 - 1994 | |
| T R Srinivasan | 1994 - 1995 | |
| N Rangachary | 1995 - 1996 | Went on to become Chairman of the IRDA |
| G K Mishra | 1996 - 1997 | |
| S N Shende | 1997 - 1997 | |
| Ravi Kant | 1997 - 2000 | |
| S K Nigam | 2000 - 2000 | Was appointed as Special Advisor to FM on Taxation |
| A Balasubramanian | 2000 - 2001 | |
| O P Srivastava | 2001 - 2001 | |
| P K Sharma | 2002 - 2003 | |
| P L Singh | 2003 - 2004 | |
| Shobha Majumdar | 2004 - 2005 | First woman to be a CBDT Chairperson[9] |
| Berjinder Singh | 2005 - 2005 | |
| M S Darda | 2005 - 2005 | |
| M M Kherawala | 2006 - 2006 | Second woman to be a CBDT Chairperson[10] |
| Indira Bhargawa | 2006 - 2007 | Third woman to be a CBDT Chairperson[11] |
| B M Singh | 2007 - 2007 | Went on to become Member of ITSC |
| R Prasad | 2007 - 2008 | Went to become Member of Competition Commission of India (CCI) till 2013 |
| P K Mishra | 2008 - 2008 | Went on to become Chairperson, Adjudicating Authority, Prevention of Money Laundering (PMLA),Ministry of Finance till 2013 |
| R S Mathoda | 2008 - 2008 | |
| N B Singh | 2008 - 2009 | |
| S S N Moorthy | 2009 - 2010 | Went on to become Member of Securities Appellate Tribunal |
| Sudhir Chandra | 2011 - 2011 | |
| Prakash Chandra | 2011 - 2011 | |
| M C Joshi | 2011 - 2012 | Was Chairman of Black Money Committee appointed by Prime Minister |
| Laxman Das | 2012 - 2012 | |
| Poonam K Saxena | 2012 - 2013 | |
| Sudha Sharma | 2013 - 2014 | |
| R K Tewari | 2014 - 2014 | |
| K. V. Chowdary | 1 August 2014 – 31 October 2014 | Went on to become CVC [12] |
| Anita Kapur | 1 November 2014 - 30 November 2015 | Went on to become member of Competition Appellate Tribunal |
| Arun Kumar Jain | 15 Dec 2015 - 30 January 2016 | |
| Atulesh Jindal | 1 February 2016 - 31 July 2016 | |
| Rani Singh Nair | 1 August 2016 - 31 October 2016 | |
| Sushil Chandra | 1 November 2016- 14 February 2019 | Went on to become chief Election Commissioner at ECI [13] |
| Pramod Chandra Mody | 15 February 2019- 31 May 2021 | Became Secretary General of Rajya Sabha in the rank of Cabinet Secretary. Longest Serving Chairman since Feb 15, 2019 to 31 May 2021.[14] |
| Jagannath Bidyadhar Mahapatra | 1 June 2021-30 April 2022 | From 1 June 2021 to August 2021, he served as the Acting Chairperson |
| Sangeeta Singh | 2 May 2022 – 30 June 2022 | [15] |
| Nitin Gupta | 1 July 2022-30 June 2024 | |
| Ravi Agarwal | 1 July 2024-Incumbent | |