Hyderabad: The finance ministry on Thursday said that net direct tax collection has risen by 14.8 per cent to Rs 1.42 lakh crore at the end of first quarter of FY2017-18— April-June period in 2017 — compared to Rs 1.24 lakh crore in the yearago period.
The growth in direct tax collection is 10 percentage points less compared to 24.79 per cent growth witnessed in the same period during the last fiscal, despite the claims that demonetisation had increased tax compliance in the country.
During April-June, the revenue department also issued refunds to the tune of Rs 55,520 crore, which is 5.2 per cent lower than the refunds issued during the April-June period in 2016.
The tax collection growth would have been further low if this year’s refunds matched the last year’s figure. The higher growth figures in overall direct tax collection the last year were primarily a result of the change in the requirements for advance tax payment even in respect of individuals.
Gross collections under corporate income tax too appears to have to slowed down as it grew merely by 4.8 per cent during Q1 FY2017-18 compared to an increase of 13.5 per cent in Q1 FY16-17. Personal income-tax (PIT), including securities transaction tax (STT), too reported a lesser growth at 12.9 per cent during this quarter under review compared to 29.8 per cent during the same period year ago.
While the tax collections are in tune with the target of the total Budget Estimates of direct taxes for FY2017-18, the lower-than-last-year’s growth figures suggest a subdued economic activity or lower business growth expectation.
Giving further details, the ministry said that an amount of Rs 58,783 crore has been received as advance tax up to June 30, 2017, reflecting a growth of 11.9 per cent year-on-year. The growth in corporate advance tax is at 8.1 per cent and that in personal advance tax is at 40.3 per cent.
