India’s gross direct tax grows 26%, net collections near 80% of Budget

The gross direct tax collections have grown 26 per cent to over ₹13.63 lakh crore so far this fiscal, aided by TDS deductions and healthy corporate advance tax mop-up, as per an official statement.

After adjusting for refunds, the net direct tax collection so far this fiscal stands at ₹11.35 lakh crore, which is about 80 per cent of the full-year Budget target.

The Budget had estimated direct tax collection of ₹14.20 lakh crore this financial year, higher than the ₹14.10 lakh crore collected last fiscal (2021-22). Tax on corporate and individual income makes up for direct taxes.

Refunds worth about ₹2.28 lakh crore have been issued till December 17, 2022, a growth of 68 per cent over the year-ago period.

The gross collection of ₹13,63,649 crore includes Corporation Tax (CIT) at ₹7.25 lakh crore and Personal Income Tax (PIT) including Securities Transaction Tax (STT) at ₹6.35 lakh crore, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) said in a statement.

The robust tax mop-up shows the economy rebounded from pandemic lows with rise in earnings of both companies and individuals.

The mop-up includes advance tax collection of ₹5.21 lakh crore, Tax Deducted at Source (TDS) of ₹6.44 lakh crore, and self-assessment tax of ₹1.40 lakh crore.

The advance tax collection for the first, second and third quarters of the current fiscal at ₹5.21 lakh crore showed a growth of 12.83 per cent. This includes CIT at ₹3.97 lakh crore and PIT at ₹1.23 lakh crore.

As per the CBDT statement, so far this fiscal, the net collections from income and corporate taxes are at ₹11.35 lakh crore, 19.81 per cent higher than the ₹9,47,959 crore collected in the corresponding period of the preceding financial year (2021-22).

This includes ₹6.06 lakh crore and ₹5.26 lakh crore of CIT and PIT collections, respectively.

The CBDT further said there has been a remarkable increase in the speed of processing of income tax returns filed during the current fiscal, with almost 96.5 per cent of the duly verified ITRs having been processed till December 17.

“This has resulted in faster issue of refunds with almost a 109 per cent increase in the number of refunds issued in the current financial year,” it said.