April-Aug direct tax receipts at ₹2.2 L cr

Net direct tax receipts during the April-August period has grown 17.5% to ₹2.24 lakh crore, indicating tax collections are on track to achieve the fullyear target.

In the annual budget for 2017-18, finance minister Arun Jaitley had set a full year growth target of 15.7% for corporate and personal income tax receipts at ₹9.8 lakh crore.

Direct tax receipts in the first five months of the financial year are a tad less than a fourth of the projected full-year collections, according to a statement from Central Board of Direct Taxes.

The government expects robust tax collections this financial year supported by its crackdown on black money as well as from a larger pool of income tax payers. Reforms in the indirect tax side is also expected to add more direct tax assessees as the authorities hope to integrate the informal part of the economy to the formal one.

The tax department received about 56 lakh new personal I-T returns relating to 2016-17 financial year by the August 5 deadline for filing income tax returns. Since the last date for filing corporate tax returns by businesses is in September, the tax base could further widen by the end of this year, said a tax official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Net corporate tax collection grew at 18.1% and net personal income tax receipts grew16.5% during the April-August period this year from a year ago.

However, refunds given in the period, which is 7.2% less than what was issued in the same time a year ago, aided in maintaining the robust growth figures. The tax department issued ₹74,089 crore of refunds during the period under review, the statement said.