Gross direct tax collections surged 15.7 per cent to Rs6,75,000 crore for the first eight months of the current financial year (April-November 2018-19) and looked set to meet budget estimates for the full fiscal, the finance ministry said on Monday.
The Income Tax Department has also issued refunds to the tune of Rs1,23,000 crore in the eight months, which is 20.8 per cent higher than refunds issued in the same period last year, provisional figures released by the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) showed.
Net direct tax collections represent 48 per cent of the total budget estimates of direct taxes for financial year 2018-19 (Rs11.50 lakh crore). Gross collections in corporate income tax (CIT) and personal income tax (PIT) grew 17.7 per cent and 18.3 per cent, respectively, the finance ministry stated in a release.
After adjustment of refunds, the net growth in CIT collections showed a growth of 18.4 per cent while PIT collections increased by 16 per cent.
The finance ministry said collections of the corresponding period of last fiscal also included extraordinary collections under the Income Declaration Scheme (IDS), 2016, amounting to Rs10,833 crore (third and last instalment of IDS), which do not form part of the current year’s collections.