The direct taxes collections for the financial year 2017-18 has exceeded the set target of Rs 9.8 lakh crores. Finance secretary Hansmukh Adhia has stated that the total direct taxes collected by the end of March in as the financial year 2017-18 is estimated at Rs 9.95 lakh crores. As per reports, Adhia has added that the GST revenue collections for the month of March stand at Rs 90,000 crores.
The provisional figures of Direct Tax collections for FY 2017-18 show that net collections are at Rs.9.95 lakh crore which is 17.1% higher than the net collections for FY 2016-17.
— Ministry of Finance (@FinMinIndia) April 2, 2018
According to the official statement released by the Ministry of Finance, gross tax collections (before adjustment for refunds) has increased by 13% to 11.44 lakh crores, and refunds amounting to Rs 1.49 lakh crores have been issued for the financial year 2017-18.
By the end of December 2017, the net direct tax collections had reached up to 67% of the total budget estimates. The net direct tax collected till then was Rs 6.56 lakh crores. So achieving and exceeding the set budget target was expected.
The number of income tax returns filed in the 2017-18 financial year has also surpassed all previous records with numbers at 6.84 crores. The chairman of CBDT Sushil Chandra has stated that this is a 26% increase in the number of returns filed than the previous financial year. 5.43 crore returns were filed in the financial year 2016-17.
The CBDT chairman further added that a total of 99.5 lakh new assessees were added to the tax net. He further added that the collection of corporate tax has increased by 17.1% while the collection of personal income tax has increased by 18.9% as compared to the previous financial year.
The Ministry of Finance official statement attributes the significant increase in the number total returns filed and new returns filed to the sustained efforts by the Income Tax department by following up with potential non-filers through emails, SMS, statutory notices and outreach programmes as well as making structural changes in the existing norms and government’s emphasis on widening the tax net.
