FINMIN: DIRECT TAX COLLECTION SAW 19% HIKE

New Delhi, Aug. 9: Direct tax collections jumped 19 per cent in the first four months of the current fiscal as demonetisation of higher denomination currency brought in more number of individuals in tax net.

Collections of direct taxes, which are made up of personal and corporate taxes, soared to `1.90 lakh crore in AprilJuly, an official statement said here.

The collection, net of refunds, was 19.5 per cent of the total Budget estimate of direct taxes for 2017-18. Corporate income tax grew 7.2 per cent on gross terms and personal income tax by 17.5 per cent.

“However, after adjusting for refunds, the net growth in corporate I-T collections is 23.2 per cent while that in personal income tax collections is 15.7 per cent,” the statement said.

As much as `61,920 crore of tax refunds have been issued during April-July, 5.1 per cent lower than issued in the same period of 2016-17.

Earlier this week, the government released the numbers of tax returns filed, showing demonetisation of old `500 and `1,000 notes had given the substantial growth.

Number of tax returns filed soared to 2.83 crore as against 2.27 crore in the previous year. The growth of 24.7 per cent this year compared with 9.9 per cent in the yearago period.

Individual tax returns filed were up 25.3 per cent at 2.79 crore.