Chinese tax authorities had received 1.6 million declarations from the country's high-income earners as of April 2, the deadline for filing personal income tax returns, said sources with the State Administration of Taxation (SAT) on Thursday.

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This is the first year the State Administration of Taxation (SAT) is requiring high-income earners -- those who earn more than 120,000 yuan (15,400 U.S. dollars) a year -- to declare their annual incomes.

But the number of declarations received is far lower than expected with some financial experts suggesting there are six to seven million such high-income earners in the country.

Although the deadline was April 2, tax authorities are expecting to see more declarations in the next few days "because a number of income statements filed by post have not yet been received", said the sources.

Any declaration that was handed to the post office before midnight on April 2 is valid and tax authorities will announce the final number of the declarations before April 10.

High-income earners who fail to file income statements will be subject to keen scrutiny.

Those who fail to declare will face fines of between 2,000 and 10,000 yuan. People who falsely report their incomes can be fined up to 50,000 yuan.

Penalties for evading taxes can equal five times the amount of unpaid tax and a jail term.

By April 1, 255,000 people had declared their annual incomes in Beijing, where there are 350,000 people who earn more than 120,000 yuan a year, according to figures from the Beijing Local Taxation Bureau.

Tax authorities in south China's Guangdong have also receive 270,000 declarations but in northeastern Heilongjiang only a tenth of the expected number had done so and in central Hunan less than a half.

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