The Central Board of Direct Taxation (CBDT) on Friday revealed direct tax collections have gone up by 10.7 per cent for the period up to February, 2017.
While the total collection stood at Rs 6.17 lakh crore, an increase of 10.7 per cent, it is significantly less than the targeted amount. The Centre had targeted direct tax revenues amounting to Rs 8.47 lakh crore for the financial year 2016-17. With just one month left, achieving the said target seems difficult.
The net growth of corporate income tax collections is 2.6 per cent, while that of personal income tax collections is 19.5 per cent. Refunds amounting to Rs.1.48 lakh crore have been issued during April 2016-February 2017, 40.2 per cent higher than the refunds issued during the corresponding period last year.
Higher refunds is one of the reasons behind lower net collections. The growth in corporate tax has also been much less than targeted because of slowdown in corporate performance.
On the contrary, the picture is quite rosy in indirect tax collection. Indirect tax collections showed an increase of 22.2 per cent, more than the net collections of corresponding period last year and stood at Rs 7.72 lakh crore. So far, about 90.9 per cent of the Revised Estimates (RE) of indirect taxes for 2016-17 has been achieved.
Central Excise tax collections stood at Rs. 3.45 lakh crore during April-February, growing by 36.2 per cent while Service Tax stood at Rs 2.21 lakh crore, thereby registering a growth of 20.8 per cent.
Net tax collections on account of customs during April-February 2016-17 stood at Rs 2.05 lakh crore, 5.2 per cent increase compared to Rs 1.94 lakh crore during the same period in the previous financial Year.
